Weekly Mail May 30,2021

 Hey Everyone: 

Had a proud dad moment this week.

Timmy is on the Oceanside Middle School track team, and on Wednesday competed in his first meet. He ran in the 440, the 220, and the 55. Three races, three W’s for the Timster. 

They divided the races into heats, so I’m not sure he was the fastest overall for his grade, but he won his heats, and not by a nose either. 

Speed is definitely in his gene’s. You younger readers or folks I’ve met recently would never believe it but I was quite fast in my younger days. I was a jumper in high school, and not a very good one. But we had some great sprinters on that team and I could hold my own with most of them. My father was a runner for his high school and my father in law was a half-back both in high school and college. 

I hope I’m not coming off as the jerk who brags about his kid’s athletic ability.  I really just want him to have fun like I did. My problem was that I could run fast and jump high, I just couldn’t do them both at the same time. But some of my fondest memories of high school were with those teammates I had. 

I have to admit though, watching him win those heats? That was freakin exciting! 

Onto the week that was.....

POLITICS: The 1/6 Commission

 The House passed a bill last week to create a 10 person panel to investigate the terrorist attack on the U.S Capitol last January 6. 35 Republicans joined all 217 Democrats to advance the bill to the Senate. 

On Friday unfortunately, the Senate Republicans blocked the bill.  

House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy said he opposed the measure, and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell said he was still considering it before it went to the House vote. Anyone who thought McConnell would stand up and do the right thing probably still believes in the tooth fairy. The next time that tool does the right thing will be the first time. 

I don't get it, why would you not want to get to the bottom of this? Maybe I'm being a Pollyanna here, but I don't believe that guys like McConnell, McCarthy, Lindsay Graham and Steve Scalise are OK with what happened on 1/6, and in their heart of hearts know that Trump was the cause of it. I know that slugs like Matt Gaetz, Josh Hawley and Marjorie Taylor Greene don't care about the truth, but why let them be the conscience of the party? Even McCarthy had the common sense to tell the brainless Greene that wearing a mask is not the same thing as being held in a concentration camp. 

One of the arguments I am hearing from the right is that BLM and Antifa should also fall under the investigation of the commission. My take on that is this: You want a separate commission to investigate that? By all means. I believe what they will find is that most of the protests last summer were peaceful and the ones that weren't were dealt with. If there is anyone out there who assaulted a cop or damaged property during the George Floyd protests, by all means arrest them and bring them to justice. I really don't know anyone who would object to that.

But let's not mix apples with oranges. Let's not confuse random acts of violence with an all out attack on one of the branches of our government.  On January 6, 2021, there was an all-out attempt to kill the Vice President of the US and several members of Congress, including the two men who have strongly voiced opposition to the commission. Like I've said before, if they were threatening to hang my a$$, I'd want that $h-t investigated fully. 

Certain things should transcend politics. 9/11 was one. Benghazi to me anyway, was another. 1/6 is definitely another. As Americans, we should have been appalled at what happened that day. And we should hope that Congress would be smart enough to take the steps to ensure that it doesn't happen again.   

But, no dice.

BOOK REVIEW: So Many Ways to Lose: The Amazin True Story of the NY Mets the Best Worst Team in Sports

By: Devin Gordon

 You would think that with all the crap going in the world the past year or so, that the last thing I would want to read about is all the times over the past 48 years (and beyond) that my beloved Mets have ripped my heart out. 

But the author is a very good writer who gives interesting takes on things....... He breaks down the whole Bobby Bonilla annual payout in a way that shows that maybe the Wilpon’s weren’t as clueless as we thought, then shows just how clueless they were on other matters.  

That's not to say I agree with everything he writes, in fact he does something in the book that annoys me when other people do it. That is, he seems to look for racism where I don't believe it exists.

One example is during the 1969 season. There was a game the Mets were playing against the Astros and they were getting their doors blown off. A fly ball was hit to left fielder Cleon Jones, but he played it on the hop. Met manager Gil Hodges came out of the dugout, walked past the pitcher, past the shortstop and out to left field to confront Jones. Moments later Hodges walked back to the dugout with Jones behind him. Many people believed that was a turning point in the seson, an example of Hodges not accepting less than 100% at all times from his team. 

Gordon didn't see it this way, and no only poo-pooed the idea that it inspired the Mets, he strongly implied that Hodges (who was white) only pulled that stunt with Jones who is black.  That my friends was the first time in my life I have ever heard someone accuse Gil Hodges, a teammate and friend of Jackie Robinson BTW of racism. I certainly never heard any of the Mets players say that about him.

Then there was an interview Tom Seaver gave after the Mets beat the Reds in 1973 to advance to the World Series. Speaking to former Dodger great Maury Willis, then a broadcaster for NBC, Seaver said the following:

"And we got our cotton-pickin players in the lineup for six weeks, and we won the cotton-pickin thing and we deserved it. We played like hell and we fought like hell."

Gordon of course has an issue with cotton pickin, and while I agree it's a phrase better left unused anymore, I'm positive that Seaver meant nothing by it. In fact if I were to lay a wager, I'd guess Seaver figured cotton-pickin was a lot better than motherf-ck-n, which was probably what he wanted to say. 

Interestingly, Phil Mushnick's Friday sports column dealt in part with how much the f-bomb has become common in the sports vernacular. I believe you can get away with motherf-ck-r a lot easier than cotton-pickin nowadays. 

But if you’re a Met fan or even a Met hater, you’ll get a kick out of this. I did

3.5 Auggie’s

NBA PLAYOFFS:

Besides the Rangers cup of coffee last August, none of my teams have made the playoffs in 4 years. The Knicks of all teams ended that dubious streak this year and are currently playing the Atlanta Hawks. Naturally they are on the brink of elimination. 

Besides Derrick Rose who has appeared to have found the fountain of youth, the rest of the Knicks are pulling a disappearing act. Julius Randle in particular, brings to mind what George Steinbrenner was talking about when he called Dave Winfield “Mr. May.” A great regular season player who does squat in the playoffs.

R.J Barrett has also struggled, but he’s in his second year and maybe he’s running on fumes at this point. I don’t know what’s going on, but the Knicks have picked an awful time to come back to earth. 

NHL PLAYOFFS: 

So here is what has become my annual dilemma.... As a Ranger fan, it’s pretty much sacreligious to be rooting for the Islanders in the playoffs. But from where I’m sitting, I don’t really have a choice. And no, it’s not just because my wife is demanding that I do so.

The Bums from Belmont Park took care of business vs the Penguins last Wednesday night. That’s good. I’ll never root for the Penguins. I despise Sidney Crosby and I’m still pretty convinced Gary Bettman rigged that draft lottery because the NHL owes Mario Lemieux a shit-ton of money. I realize that makes me sound like a quackadoodle  but what can I say?

Now the Fishsticks are playing the Bruins. The one thing our fair nation doesn’t need is another championship parade down Boylston Street. The sooner the Bruins and Celtics (which is forcing me to root for the Nets) are on the golf course, the better. And had the Bruins not knocked the Capitals out of the playoffs, you think I could root for that scumbag Tom Wilson after what he did to Artemi Panarin? So I would have had to pull for the Isles in that case too. These are the things that make my hair hurt. 

Boston won Saturday night. Game 2 is Monday night. Hopefully if you are reading this, the Isles tied it up. 

Last but not least on this Memorial Day Weekend...

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old

Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

-from For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon

Stay Safe, please get vaccinated if you can

and Have a Great Week 

Weekly Mail May 23, 2021

 

Hello:

This was a bittersweet weekend. 

On Thursday, we had our third annual Running for Rebecca. An absolutely perfect weather evening at Maurice Park, we had an amazing turnout. We flooded the park with red t-shirts and paid tribute to our forever angel. It was great to see everybody, especially after going through this pandemic. I got to see my cousin’s new baby, Saoirse Elizabeth for the first time. (It’s pronounced Sir Sha for the Gaelicly challenged) Really, just perfect. 

And our team, whose goal was $4,500 ended up doubling that. As of this writing, the total sits at $9,319.38!  And my Weekly Mail team contributed $1,711 to that total. It’s breathtaking and humbling that in these tough pandemic times we were able to raise that kind of money for the AHA. 

It’s hard to find the words to properly express my gratitude to all of you. To just say thank you and I love you all doesn’t seem to cover it. But it’s the truth. All the love and all the thanks to you for your support and generosity. 

Then on Saturday, we gathered to say goodbye to one of the all time greats.

One year ago this past Sunday,  we lost Kevin Francis (Buck) Ludwig to cancer. With the pandemic at it’s peak here in NY, many of us couldn’t give him the goodbye he so much deserved. 

On Saturday we did.

The Mass at St. Mary’s was packed, as it surely would have been last year. The priest Fr. Frank was outstanding, telling some classic Kevin Ludwig stories. 

There were 3 eulogies, Kevin’s wife Ann, Woodside legend Brian Anderson, and Kris (Loogie) Ludwig, each of them nailing the essence of the man perfectly. To wit: The more he liked you, the more he ragged on you. 

After Mass we headed to Donovan’s for dinner. It was good to be back. It was weird seeing the bar empty, but it almost felt like old times again. It was great catching up with the Ludwigs, DePuy’s and the rest of the old Woodside crew. 

It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: As much as I loved seeing everyone on Thursday night and Saturday, as much as I appreciate how much money we raised, as happy as I was to see him get the farewell he deserved, I’d give it all up to have them both back. 

Becky and Buck. Gone too soon. In our hearts forever.

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

I was going to write about the debate in Congress about the 1/6 commission and also preview the Knicks-Hawks playoff series. But I think we’ll save that either for later this week or next weekend.  Tonight, I’ll just leave this post as is, as a tribute to my niece and my buddy. 

Stay safe, please get vaccinated if you can

and Have a Great Week

  

Weekly Mail May 16, 2021

 

Hey There:

This coming Thursday Evening we'll be Running for Rebecca at Maurice Park. 

So far, our team has raised over $6,300, well past our $4,500 goal. 

And thanks to all of you who donated to my page, we are at $1406.50! 

I can't thank you all enough. You are all amazing!!! 

The weather for Thursday is looking good, so if you'd like to come and join us that would be awesome. Maurice Park is exit 18 off the LIE. Here is a map.

And of course if you would like to make a donation, https://www2.heart.org/site/TR/HeartWalk/FDA-FoundersAffiliate?px=17407286&pg=personal&fr_id=5680

Should be a great night. 

And now, onto the week that was...

POLITICS: Liz Cheney Out

We haven't discussed the goings on in Washington lately. But what happened this week, even though it wasn't a surprise, still moved me to have to say something about it. 

On Wednesday, House Republicans voted to remove Wyoming Rep Liz Cheney from her position as the number 3 House Leader. According to the AP, it was a voice vote and was done in less than 20 minutes. 

And all because Congresswoman Cheney refuses to say that the 2020 Election was stolen from Donald Trump. All because she refuses to perpetuate that lie. 

It's funny, it wasn't that long ago that the name Cheney invoked a lot of the same anger that the name Trump does now. Dick Cheney, as VP under George W. Bush, was considered by many to be the evil mastermind behind that administration. If you would have told me in 2006, hell if you would have told me in 2016, that someone named Cheney would be lauded by the Democrats for having some morality, I would have thought you'd gone crackers.

But this is the world we live in now. This is the power Trump has over the GOP. I don't know how this doesn't scare the $h-t out of everyone, because it sure scares the $h-t out of me. 

Liz Cheney was one of the few House Republicans who had the guts to say the truth; that the then-sitting President of the United States incited a terrorist attack against one of the branches of the Federal Government. 

Captain Orange released a statement on Saturday that read in part..

"Had Mike Pence had the courage to send the Electoral College vote back to states for recertification, and had Mitch McConnell fought for us instead of being the weak and pathetic leader he is, we would right now have a Republican President who would be VETOING the horrific Socialistic Bills that are rapidly going through Congress" 

I don't get it. Mitch McConnell had the power to do something about this. He had the chance to tell the people he leads, the Republican Senate, to put this idiot out to pasture. Instead, he let him off the hook during the impeachment trial and said he would support him if he ran again in 2024. And for that he gets called a "weak and pathetic leader"  

He IS a weak and pathetic leader, on that, Trump and I agree. 

You know who is not weak and pathetic? Liz Cheney. She stood up for what she believed in. She stood up for what was right. She refused to buy the BS. And for that she was stripped of a leadership position. Elsie Stefanik, who at one time also had the nerve to stand up to Trump, is the new No. 3. Reminds me of this line from A Man for all Seasons, when Sir Thomas More finds out that a former associate testified falsely against him and was awarded an ambassadorship to Wales.

"Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul to the whole world, but for Wales?"

That's my question for Mitch and Stefanik and the rest of them

But for Trump?

For Trump? 

HORSE RACING: Baffert's B.S. 

Medina's Spirit won the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago. Last week, it was announced that the horse had tested positive for a banned substance. 

Medina's Spirit's trainer, Bob Baffert at first denied any wrongdoing. 

Then I was driving home from work on Tuesday and I heard Craig Carton on WFAN report Baffert's next explanation. And I actually thought Carton was making it up and putting us on. 

According to Baffert, one of the stable hands or grooms had taken cough syrup then relived himself on the hay. The horse then ate the pissed on hay, hence the positive drug test. 

Nyquil Nyquil Nyquil, we love you. You giant f-cking Q.- Denis Leary. Sorry I had to put that in there.

Anyway, the next day Baffert came up with a more plausible (if not more truthful) excuse, that Media's Spirit had been given a topical cream that unbeknownst to all, contained the banned substance. 

Like I said, I don't believe either of these theories, but the pee hay I really don't believe.

The people who take care of these horses, especially in a place like Churchill Downs, are the best of the best. You are all familiar with the phrase "You don't $h-t where you eat".  I can't imagine the grooms that work at the hallowed stables of Churchill Downs would piss where the horses eat. Hell, I couldn't see the guys doing that to the horses that pull the buggys around Central Park, never mind to a thoroughbred racehorse. 

So my understanding is that there was a split sample sent to the lab. If the second sample comes back dirty, Medina's Spirit forfeits the Derby. Now that RRRRRambauer won the Preakness, it won't affect the Triple Crown, but that's a lot of $$$ to have to give up. Not to mention stud fees and all that. 

Of course our nation's 45th President weighed in, referring to the horse as a "junky" (his spelling mistake, not mine) And to be honest, that's really what Trump should be doing, putting his $0.02 into horse racing and other less important matters. Let the pros handle foreign policy and the important stuff. 

And I'll refrain from stating the obvious... that this was one horse's a$$ talking about another horse's literal a$$. That would be too easy. 

HOCKEY: Quinn doesn't Win

The Rangers continued their house cleaning last week, firing head coach David Quinn, just days after they got rid of team president John Davidson and GM Jeff Gorton. 

Not sure how I feel about this. I mean, part of the problem of course, is that I still think getting rid of JD and Gorton was a big mistake. With all due respect to Chris Drury, I still think neither of those guys did anything to deserve their being shown the door. 

And to be honest, neither did Quinn. 

I don't believe this team underachieved, I do feel like they played hard every night, and Quinn was brought in to help the young kids develop. And most of them showed great improvement over the season. So on the surface, I think this may have been premature. 

But there were some issues. Whoever the next coach is has got to figure out what to do about Chris Kreider. We are too far into this guy's career for him to be this inconsistent. He has got great size and great speed and when he puts that all together, he can be a fantastic player. But he disappears for large stretches of games. I don't think he's not trying or giving the effort, but I don't know what the issue is. 

Also, I've heard rumblings that Quin tried to get the team to shoot more instead of making the perfect pass, or to play a more north-south, rather than east-west. And the team didn't respond to that. So if they can find someone who can get them to commit to a more complete game, that's not necessarily a bad thing. 

Apparently they are looking for an experienced coach, and again I'm all for that if it's for the right reasons. If a more experienced coach can get Kreider to be more consistent then by all means. But if you think hiring a retread is going to put the team in immediate Cup contention well I think they are barking up the wrong tree. 

And what I'm really nervous about is Drury making a win now trade that will inevitably bite us in the behind. The Rangers have made some doozies, Rick Middleton for Ken Hodge is the Rangers version of Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi. If the mandate is win now, that's a huge concern. 

Speaking of the Mets, the kid they traded to Seattle for Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz got his first MLB hit Friday night.. a HR. 

Here's some more Mets..

BASEBALL: Happy Harvey Day

Not quite sure how I would have acted if I was at the Met game on Wednesday afternoon. 

Matt Harvey came back to Citi Field for the first time as a visiting player. To me he was a disappointment as a Met. The Tommy John surgery and the Thoracic Outlet Syndrome were beyond his control. But he could have controlled his partying, kept his personal life out of his pitching,  and not gone AWOL. I should have been more upset when he was released than I was. By the end of his time with the Mets, I just felt he wasn't worth the headache. 

But the fans that were there on Wednesday felt otherwise. 

They gave the Dark Knight a standing O when he came out to pitch, when he first came up to the plate and then when the Mets knocked him out of the game. He said he was fighting back the tears as he left the game. 

And you know what? The fans did the right thing. 

They chose to remember the good times.. His 2 scoreless innings in the 2013 All-Star Game at Citi Field, his 2 run 4 hit 9 strikeout masterpiece in the 2015 NLCS. Hell, even though it ended up being the wrong move, I bet these fans remembered the chill down their spines when Harvey came out to pitch the 9th inning of Game 5 of the 2015 Series. I know Collins should have went to Familiia, but anyone who heard Citi Field roar that night will never forget it. 

Mike Vaccaro caught it perfectly in his Thursday Post column. I don't know if I would have given Harvey a standing O on Wednesday afternoon. But it would have been the right thing to do. 

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

Billy Preston was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this week, along with Tina Turner, Carole King (as a performer-she was already in as a writer) and LL Cool J amongst others. Preston's induction means that all 5 Beatles are now enshrined in Cleveland. 

Can you believe that the NFL actually has a 3 hour extravaganza to announce the following season’s schedule? Have you ever heard of a bigger waste of time and money? Please tell me none of you tuned into that? I must confess that I took a look at the Jets 2021 schedule and was reminded again of the asinine decision to expand to a 17 game season. 16 games was perfect and no one had a problem with it for over 40 years. The Super Bowl is now scheduled for February 13. The Jets won their only Super Bowl on January 12. Pretty soon they’ll be playing the Super Bowl on St. Patrick’s Day. SMH 🤦‍♂️ 

Finally today, the CDC announced that they are recommending that fully vaccinated people can now go without masks outdoors and even some places indoors. Airplanes, buses, subways, and hospitals are still mask mandatory. I kept mine on walking in Manhattan on Saturday, but around Oceanside I took a walk without one on Thursday evening. I felt like Kevin Costner at the end of the Untouchables when someone asked him how he felt about the end of Prohibition. 

“I think I’ll go have a drink” he said. 

Again thank you to everybody who contributed to Running for Rebecca. 

Stay Safe. Wear a Mask and/or get vaccinated 

and Have a Great Week 

Weekly Mail May 9, 2021

 

Hi Everybody:

First and foremost, I hope all the moms out there had a happy and relaxed Mother’s Day. As President Biden said this weekend,  “This has been an extraordinarily tough year for Mom’s across the country.”  Yes, it’s been hard for everybody, but as usual it’s the Mother’s of the world that have gotten us through it, so I hope that your day was everything you hoped it would be. 

And now, onto what’s been going on...

SPACE TRAVEL- Crashing the Party

So who had the Indian Ocean in the “Where will that Chinese Rocket crash land?” Pool? 

On Saturday afternoon all the cable news networks were breathlessly reporting about the 100 foot tall 22 ton Chinese Rocket that was hurtling towards earth, and nobody knowing where or when it is going to crash. 

The rocket was launched on April 29, and was carrying a large part of a Chinese Space Station. According to the NY Times, the boosters would normally have fallen already and landed safely in the ocean. But because the boosters went all the way into space,  there were now making what was being called an "uncontrolled re-entry into earth"

Yikes!

The Times said that the chances of the debris hitting anyone or anything are "slight, but not zero"

And I would normally have bought that explanation.. Except, what have I constantly preached on this blog for the past 5.5 years......if it can happen, it will. 

 So on Saturday night/early Sunday morning, reports came in that it landed in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives. I figured with my luck it would crash in Times Square around midnight, as I was making my way down to Penn Station. 

And of all the ways to go, If I happen to go because a Chinese Rocket fell on me, well, that will make for some good stories at my wake. 

Now if this happened 40 years ago, I'd be freaking out. Because that was the time in my life where I was convinced I was going to die like Thurman Munson died. Or should I say how I thought he died. 

The only thing I knew about Munson's death was what the headline in the next day's Daily News read Air Crash Kills Yanks Munson.  One of my friends in Rockaway told me that the engine fell off the plane and that's why it crashed. For a couple of years I thought a commercial airliner had crashed into his house and killed him. 

Where I grew up in Woodside, especially on rainy days, it looked like planes were going to crash right into the Big 6 apartment complex. Of course that was an optical illusion, but it didn't help my anxiety. 

I only found out a couple years later that, Munson was flying his own private plane. A few years after that I read the other two people in the plane with him survived, and just a couple years ago, I read that Munson himself had survived the initial crash, but actually died because they couldn't get him out before the plane went up in flames. 

Good thing I got over that too, because where I went to high school was literally blocks away from LaGuardia Airport. I could practically wave to the pilot while I was running laps of the track. 

Anyway back to the rocket. . Now that this thing landed harmlessly, maybe we could use it as a sign things might be finally turning around for us this century. Let’s hope so. 

HOCKEY: Heads Bounce and Roll at MSG.

So last week I lamented about how the Rangers lack of grit cost them in their games against the hated Islanders this year. 

The ink was barely dry on my copy Monday when a dirtbag on the Washington Capitals named Tom Wilson body slammed Artemi Panarin and punched Pavel Buchnevich in the head, then took off his jersey and flexed in the penalty box.  For that, he received a mere 10 minute misconduct and was fined $5000 by the NHL. The head of the NHL Department of player safety, George Parros  did not feel that rag-dolling a defenseless player or punching a vulnerable player in the head warranted a suspension. 

So the Ranger organization released a statement calling Parros "unfit to continue in his current role"  and accused him of being derelict in his duty. I consider both of these statements to be accurate.

But of course the NHL had to cover their a$$es, so the Rangers were hit with a quarter-million dollar fine.  Potentially ending a player's career costs less than criticizing an official who screwed up royally. 

Then things really got weird.

On Wednesday afternoon, I got an alert that I thought said that Rangers GM Jeff Gorton was fired by team President John Davidson, which was surprising enough, but I read the alert wrong. Both Gorton and Davidson were fired by Garden CEO James Dolan. 

Gorton's been the GM since 2016, and JD's been the team president since May 2019.

Dolan might just be my least favorite person on earth. A paper-thin skinned bully in the mold of Donald Trump, Dolan has overseen 20 years of lousy basketball courtesy of the Knicks. In spite of his gross mismanagement, the Knicks look like they may be finally turning it around. 

The Rangers for the most part he has left alone. Glen Sather has been with the Rangers in some form or another since 2000,(his title now is alternate governor)  and I don't know how he has managed to do it, but he has had Dolan's trust for that entire time. Now in fairness to Sather, he did build the team that went to the Finals in 2014 and also went to 3 Conference Finals in 4 years. But to survive in this town that long without winning a championship is unheard of. 

But now Dolan has decided that 2 years is long enough for a team president and 5 years for his GM. He has given both jobs to former Ranger Chris Drury. 

The rumor going around was that neither Davidson or Gorton thought the statement the Rangers put out against Parros was a good idea, and that Dolan canned them over that. 

Dolan in an exclusive interview with Larry Brooks of the Post, denied that. Instead he said the following

I saw a weakness in the team that was not being addressed and I knew it needed to be,” . “I knew that we were missing a key component to us being a Stanley Cup contender.

“And that is the overall spirit and culture that goes with being a team. I believe that as good of a job as JD and Jeff have done, in speaking with them, it is clear to me that Chris Drury was going to be the right guy to lead the team forward.”

Honestly, we have enough talent now to compete for a Stanley Cup,” he said. “I’m sure we can always do better and add more, and I will tell you that both JD and Jeff did a good job of putting talent into this organization, and we also got lucky along the way too [with lottery victories the last two years].

“But other owners, other general managers have been telling me for a year that they can’t believe how stocked we are with talent, but talent alone doesn’t do it. We’re missing this piece and we need it. And when I looked at our organization, I felt that we need to change the whole organization and change the culture.”

Let's get one thing clear here.. There was no way in hell this team was ready to compete for a Stanley Cup. Do they have some championship caliber players here?  Absolutely, but not nearly enough. And if the issue was/is as I've been saying that the team needs more toughness, then why not give JD and Gorton a chance to acquire that toughness? Players that Bill Parcells used to refer to as “lunch-pail guys”  Since even Dolan acknowledges that JD and Gordon were good at acquiring talent? 

And then there was this from Dolan's talk with the Post... 

“I started thinking about it 20 or 25 games ago at a time when the team really needed to show heart and we had key games — I won’t be specific — where we had to show up and had to come out strong, and even if we lost, it had to be our best effort,” Dolan said. “And we clearly had nowhere close to our best effort.”

OK fair enough, but what does that have to do with the team president? To me if that's your issue, that the team didn't give it their all, isn't that on the coach? 

Because the one guy who kept his job throughout this whole mess is the head coach David Quinn.*

Quinn and Drury are both Boston College grads and Quinn was hired on a strong recommendation from Drury, so there's a good chance he stays. I'm not sure how I feel about this, my first instinct is that JD and Gorton should have stayed and Quinn maybe sent packing. 

Now I'll be the first to admit I was extremely disappointed last summer at the Rangers performance in the playoff bubble. And that carried over to the regular season. But I also understood the team was in the final stages of rebuilding, that even as Dolan readily admitted, there was a strong stockpile of young talent. I think they deserved a chance to correct the issue of grit in the off-season. 

This was a tough week to be a Rangers fan. It reminded me of how things were in the bad old days. I hope Chris Drury can put the finishing touches on this team and make it a legit contender.

I hope he gets the chance. 

BASEBALL: A Rodent's Tale:

During the 7th inning of Mets-D'Backs on Friday night, a ground ball hit between Met SS Francisco Lindor and 2B Jeff McNeil ended up being an infield single. There seemed to be a communication mixup between the two infielders.

Between innings, the SNY cameras caught several Mets running down to the tunnel between the dugout and the clubhouse. The speculation was that Lindor and McNeil were arguing or even throwing hands over the play in top of the 7th.  

Lindor's explanation was that he and McNeil spotted a creature in the tunnel leading from the clubhouse to the dugout and were debating whether it was a rat or a raccoon...

First of all, if I was showering and dressing that close to anywhere there might be either a rat or a raccoon, that would freak me out. But that’s not even the point. Were they arguing over that, or were they accusing each other of sloppy fielding? To me that’s important, because even though Lindor hasn’t been hitting, he has been an excellent fielder and a vocal leader in the infield. Not the type of guy who would pick a fight with a fellow infielder. 

Of course NcNeil (nicknamed “the squirrel” to make this even more disgusting) is a wear your heart on your sleeve type of player, and maybe he was the one who flew off the handle.  I don’t know what the hell happened down there, but I’m not buying what the Mets are selling.

   

Here's the deal; if they keep winning this will be a funny footnote, like Bobby V putting on the glasses and fake mustache. If they lose? It will be an example of dysfunction. 

And speaking of Bobby V...

POLITICS- V is for Victory?

The aforementioned former Met manager Bobby Valentine announced last week that he was tossing his Groucho Marx mask into the ring to run as mayor of Stamford, CT. 

I have the perfect slogan for Bobby V’s “If I can get an outfield of Benny Agbayani, Jay Payton and Timo Perez to the World Series, imagine what I can do for Stamford” OK, it’s a mouthful, but it works doesn’t it?

V says he’s running as an Independent, but keep this in mind: even after he was fired as manager by the Texas Rangers and their owner at the time, one George W. Bush, he and W remained close. I’d be surprised if he didn’t at least lean to the right.  

But that’s just speculation on my part. What I can guarantee is that if he pulls this off, (and admittedly I haven’t checked the poll numbers) those mayoral State of the City addresses are going to be must see TV. I loved Booby V as Mets manager, but he rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, because he very clearly believed he was the smartest guy in the room. (and a lot of the time he was) If he brings that swagger to Stamford’s City Hall, that should be fun to watch. 

Sorry for the delay, I had to do some re-writing on this.

Again, the happiest of Mother’s Day to all.

Stay Safe, Wear a Mask

and Have a Great Week 

*Quinn has since been fired. More on that next weekend 

Weekly Mail May 2, 2021

 

Hey Everyone:

My sister in law’s dog turned one last week. 

I still don’t consider myself a dog person, which judging by many of your social media posts, puts me on a list of despicable people somewhere between Atlia the Hun and Kim Kardashian. 

But after watching my cousin’s dog last year, I’ve gotten better. And I have to admit, my dog niece, Darby, is a lot of fun. 

If I’m sitting next to Tara, Darby will literally squeeze in between us and give me dog kisses, while whacking Tara in the face with her tail. Then she’ll turn around and do the same thing, kiss Tara while her tail goes 100 MPH in my face. 

She loves shoes, and she’s gotten a lot better about waiting till they are actually off your feet before she tries to take them. 

On Sunday Darby’s “mom” Megan had a little party for Darby. On Saturday morning, Tara wanted to go to Front Street Bakery in Rockville Centre to get doggie treats for her.

The morning had gotten away from us a bit, and Tara said,”We’ll just got to Petco in the morning and pick something up for her.”  I was taking the train into the city on Saturday and the trains were running late, so I headed over to FSB myself. 

I called Tara while I was waiting on line to get into the bakery, “Are you sure they have dog treats here? Are they going to laugh me out of the bakery if I ask where they keep the dog stuff?” 

Tara laughed “Only you would think that. They have a whole shelf for dogs.” 

I got in there, and as Joe Biden would say “sonofabitch..”

Pupcakes (instead of cupcakes, seewhattheydidthere?) and dog biscuits that look like rainbow cookies. Amazing!

And Front Street Bakery is pretty fancy. Their cakes are off the charts, and they have M&M Cookies, (not as good as the ones you used to get at Walter’s in Woodside, but pretty good).  But yeah they had a couple of shelves with Dog Treats. Some places think of everything don’t they?

So I was happy to present our Darby with her gifts on Sunday. When Megan gave her the pupcake, she sniffed it, touched it with her paws, than ran around with it in her mouth. “You know you can swallow that” I told her as if she’d understand what the hell I was saying. 

All in all, a successful 1st birthday. Happy Birthday Darbs! 

NFL DRAFT- Or as I like to call it, my team's Super Bowl.

Saw this tidbit in the Post on Thursday morning...

     The Jets will become the first team in the common draft era to select two quarterbacks in the 

     top three within four years of each other

Now if that don't inspire confidence in your team, I don't know what will.

But it just proves something I've been saying all along... These people who say "You may never get another chance to draft a franchise QB. Well, the Jets are about to do it for the second time in four years. Seems to me the only way you don't have a chance to draft a franchise quarterback, is if you actually draft a franchise quarterback! 

Now I don't want to rain on Zach Wilson's parade, I love his attitude and his spirit. He's easy to like, easy to root for. I have nothing against him, I'll be rooting for him as hard as anybody. 

And maybe it's that these kids birth certificates are getting further away from my numbers and closer to those of my kid, but I'm hoping we give this kid a chance. I know I said I wanted Darnold gone after he threw all those picks against New England, so I promise to practice what I'm preaching here. 

I just can't excited anymore. Too many Browning Nagles, too many Mark Sanchez's, too many Sam Darnolds. 

Too many nights where draft night is our Super Bowl. 

Mets 

I understand those of my fellow Mets fans who say that worrying about the Mets struggles in the early goings of the season is foolish, being that this is a 162 game marathon and not an all out sprint. I dig all that.

Here is my issue.

In 2018, from July 1st on, the Mets had a 45-37 record. Had they gone 45-35 in the first 80 games, they would have won 90 games and made the playoffs. (90 wins would have won the NL East in 2018)

In 2019, from July 1st on, the Mets had a 47-29 record. Had they played just .500 ball before hand, they would have won 90 games and made the playoffs. 

My point being that I don't want the Mets digging themselves a hole they can't dig out of. If they are 10-15 games below .500 at the All Star Break, then go on another 2nd half tear but miss the playoffs, well that's not gonna cut it this year. In 2019 especially we were told that the hot finish would be a springboard to a successful 2020. Now COVID 19 took care of that, but now we have a new owner, a superstar new SS, and a solid core of young hitters, not to mention the best pitcher in baseball. There is no excuse for not making the playoffs this year. 

So pardon me if I'm not exactly chock full of patience and understanding. I'm confident that Francisco Lindor will start hitting (I love his defense and his leadership qualities) I'm confident that Michael Conforto who is playing for a contract will start to hit. I'm confident Pete Alonso will start hitting homers again.

And now would be a nice time to start. 

Rangers

As I'm sitting here typing out this masterpiece, the Rangers are literally and figuratively getting their a$$es kicked by the a-hole Islanders. 

Islander winger, goon and Boomer Esiason son in law Matt Martin elbowed Mike Zibanejad in the nose. The refs didn’t see it and more importantly, the Rangers don’t have anybody who can go out there and make Martin pay for it. This, after Martin also ended Jacob Trouba’s season with a hard (and I’ll admit clean) hit. 

To me this is the big difference between my Rangers and the Bums from Belmont Park... the Isles have grit. Guys like Martin and Cal Clutterbuck, guys not afraid to mix it up.

I’m not looking for a team full of goons, I’m not looking to recreate the 1975 Philadelphia Flyers here, but we need someone who will answer for hits that injure our players. We have plenty of guys who can score goals and make fancy passes, our defense is solid and our goaltending is excellent. 

We just need some guys who like to mix it up. Every good team has them. 

2020 Census 

I’ve been a Presidential buff since I was 7 years old. But it wasn’t until I got to 7th grade and was taught Social Studies by the legendary Tom Troisi that I learned how the Electoral College works. 

And it’s funny the stuff you remember; Mr. Troisi divided us into so groups and had us ask each other questions, sort of a trivia contest. My question was “How many Electoral Votes does NY have?”  I remember I gave the answer as 41 and it turns out I was wrong. In 1986 we had 36, down 5 from the 41 we had in 1980.  Whatever map I consulted was out of date, plus Al Gore hadn’t invented the inter webs yet, so...

Last week the census results came out and once again NY lost an electoral vote and a seat in Congress. We are now down from 41 in 1980 to 28 now. California, Texas and Florida all have more votes than we do. 

It shouldn’t be a surprise I guess, so many New Yorker’s heading down to FLA, including Captain Orange. Lower taxes, better weather, and all that crap. 

I’d never live down there. Nice place to visit, and as much as I’d love to spend one Christmas in my life at the beach*, I wouldn’t want to do it every year. 

I realize I’m worrying about something I have no control over, and in the grand scheme of things, maybe it doesn’t matter.  No Republican has won NY since Ronald Reagan almost 40 years ago, so the only time the candidates come here is to raise money. 

I just hate the idea of my home state fading into irrelevancy. Just seems like every 10 years or so, that’s what happens. 

Sorry we got this out late, these doggie birthday parties take a lot out of you.

Stay Safe, Wear a Mask 

and Have a Great Week 

*we take pictures every year down in Pt Lookout, but I’m talking about sunbathing and surfing.