Hello All:
One of the worst parts of the pandemic was not being able to give those we love the proper goodbyes. In May, we got to finally give Kevin (Buck) Ludwig the farewell he deserved. On Saturday, my brother in law, Steve and his family had a luncheon at Donovan’s in honor of his dad Rick Eller, on what would have been his birthday. I always say my family hit the jackpot when Steve joined it, so I’m glad we were able to pay tribute to Rick.
On Friday, Timmy and I along with Ray, Karl, my dad and my sister, went to Citifield to watch as the Mets blew out the Pirates. I’ll have more on the Mets later on in this broadcast.
WEATHER: Tropical Storm Elsa
July 8 would have been my grandmother’s 108 birthday. It’s normally one of the hottest, stickiest days of the year. Grandma wasn’t big on blasting the AC, and even when we took her out, there was no getting around the heat. Even when I was in shape, I still sweated it out.
But this was the first year I can remember that we had to worry about a tropical storm heading our way on July 8.
The pictures from the subway station in Washington Heights on Thursday were mind boggling. The subway steps looked like Niagara Falls, and there were people wading through it! What? I’ve done some crazy stuff trying to catch a subway train, body surfing was never one of them.
I see that much water, I’m taking the bus, or walking. Or (and I’ve done this more times than I care to admit) find the nearest watering hole and wait it out with a beverage or six.
First of all, if the stairwell has that much water, I have no idea how the tracks didn’t get flooded, rendering the subway useless. But forget that for a minute, if you are in waist high water in a subway station, do you have any idea what else is floating around in there? Gawd, I’m just losing my mind even thinking about that. I’d rather swim in the East River than wade through a subway flood. Trust me, they haven’t invented a vaccine for that yet.
Tropical Storms here in July, temperatures over 100 degrees in Portland, OR, fires in the Gulf of Mexico. At this point, I really don’t know how anyone can look at all that and deny that there is such thing as climate change.
BOOK REVIEW:
Rock Me on the Water: 1974 The Year Los Angeles Transformed Movies, Music, Television and Politics
By: Ronald Brownstein
As the title suggests, the author was trying to make the case that 1974 was a watershed year in Hollywood.
His argument is compelling. With movies, he talks about two of Hollywood’s all time greats, Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty and discusses the classic movies the two hall of famers made that year (Chinatown for Nicholson, Shampoo for Beatty)
In music he delves into the careers of Jackson Browne, Linda Rondstadt and Rondstadt’s backing group after she left the Stone Ponies. Couple of guys named Don Henley and Glen Frey who went on to form Gersh Kuntzman’s favorite band.
His strongest argument comes from TV. This was CBS Saturday night lineup for the 1973-74 season:
8:00-All in the Family
8:30- M*A*S*H
9:00- The Mary Tyler Moore Show
9:30 The Bob Newhart Show
10:00 The Carol Burnett Show
That’s like having a starting rotation of Gibson, McLain, Drysdale, Marichal and Seaver circa 1968. I mean the closest 2nd I can think of is NBC’s Thursday Night 1980’s line-up:
8:00 Cosby Show
8:30 Family Ties
9:00 Cheers
9:30 Night Court
10:00 Hill Street Blues.
He also discusses Jane Fonda* and Tom Hayden and what they were up to, as well as one of Rondstadt’s future boyfriends, who ran for and won the governorship of California in 1974, one Jerry Brown.
It’s a really good book, whether or not you believe he made his case or not. I’m not sure he did. Trying to prove one year is more pivotal than another is very often in the eyes of the beholder. But looking back on that time period was fun. I would absolutely recommend this book.
4.5 Auggies
BASEBALL: At the All-Star Break…
I was all set to discuss one Met and one Yankee in this essay, but I’m so pissed off at the Mets right now, I can’t really write with a clear head.
On Sunday, the Mets jumped out to a 5-0 lead on the Pirates. Francisco Lindor smashed a no doubt about it two run homer, and Michael Conforto added a 3 run blast in the first inning. The Pirates are one of the worst teams in the league.
Little by little the Mets let the Pirates get back into the game. That lethal combination of leaving guys on base, and a leaky bullpen proved to be the Mets downfall. The result was an inexcusable 6-5 loss, which I proceeded to go and rant on Facebook about. Of course that was a mistake. Half the fans in the group agreed with me. The other half said I a) Don’t know anything about baseball and b) am not a real Met fan. One punk a$$ keyboard warrior called me a “boomer,” and I’m consulting my legal team to see if I can bring him up on age discrimination charges. (I didn’t bother telling the wisea$$ that I’m from Generation X-but I digress)
Again what these morons don’t understand is that the only reason the Mets are in first place is that the rest of the division is a disaster. They are only 7 games over .500. The Phillies are at exactly .500, everyone else is below. If they were playing the NL West with their record, they would be in 4th place.
Maybe I am being rough on them, but I believe in my heart they are capable of doing better. Losing to the Pirates in that fashion is unacceptable.
Someone came on and told me that the Yankees loss to the Astros was even worse. It wasn’t. Yes, the Bombers also blew a 5 run lead, and yes it was all in the bottom of the 9th (the Pirates picked us apart little by little) but the Astros are in first place in the AL West. We lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates. THAT’s my issue.
SOCCER: Viva Italia!
I watched the end of the Euro 2020 between Italy and England. I had a hard time deciding who to root for. As an Irishman, I know I shouldn’t root for England. Also, when I was in Italy a couple years ago, they were very hospitable. I’m sure some of the friends I made over there are ecstatic tonight. Not to mention all my friends here in the States.
But I also thought of my dad’s friend Manny who came over here back in 2019. He’s as big an Arsenal fan as I am a Mets fan. I thought about Timmy’s friend here in Oceanside, one of the nicest kids in the world, whose Mom is British and was rooting hard. I tried not to think about the Italian women I dated who cut me loose, but well, that really wasn’t a factor, I just found myself pulling for the Brits. Which of course is why they lost on penalty kicks.
Actually why they lost in my humble and admittedly limited soccer knowledge opinion, is that third penalty kick, the first one England missed, the one taken by Marcus Rashford.
Again all these idiots who told me I know nothing about baseball can pound sand, I forgot more baseball than most of them will ever know. But you can fit on a postage stamp what I know about soccer.
Having said that, if you are kicking a penalty shot, dude, I think you just gotta go up there and just let ‘er rip, right? The last two kicks England had, the Italian goalie made really nice saves on them. You just have to tip your hat to the man at that point.
But Rashford tapped danced around that ball like he was Gregory Hines or something. He ran up, stopped did a little stutter step, then kicked the ball off the post. What the fudge man? To me that was the Budweiser turning point of the game.
Megan Rapinoe is a showboat and a bigmouth, but she backs it up. That penalty kick she buried to beat the Netherlands in 2019 was a no doubt about it goal. The Brits could use a lesson from her.
Anyway Congratulations Italy. And I hope they are partying like it’s 1999 in Cefalu tonight.
All right folks that’s enough kvetching for one night.
Stay Safe
and Have a Great Week
*I’ve tried to give Fonda a break recently, but the author (who I’m guessing was sympathetic to Fonda and Hayden, quoted her saying some nasty things about the guys fighting in Vietnam, not merely the people in charge of running it. That I can’t and won’t forgive
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