Hey Everyone:
We have reached the dog days of summer. It's July and it's supposed to be hot, but Friday and Saturday mornings were just brutal. Then of course when I got to the city on Saturday afternoon the heavens opened up. The humidity here in NY was really tough this week.
Anyway, on we go..
TRAGIC ANNIVERSARY
Saturday marked the 25th anniversary of the crash of TWA Flight 800. The flight that was bound for Paris and Rome, exploded over the Atlantic and crashed off the shore of East Moriches, out near the Hamptons. All 230 people on board perished.
My parents and sisters were out in Montauk for the week. I was down in Rockaway, but when I heard about what happened, and once I had made contact with my family, I headed back to Woodside so I could watch all the coverage. (We didn't have cable in the bungalow)
Earlier that year, I had gone on the Cooper Union ski trip with Ray, Karl and all of Ray's frat brothers, one of them, Shahar Harel was out roommate on the trip. For some reason, I had it in my head that he was heading to Paris that summer.* I also wondered about my cousins Philippe and Perrine who's grandparents lived in France. Thankfully, I didn't lose anybody I knew.
But many New Yorker's did. Before I started writing this I read Newsday's Oral History of TWA Flight 800. To read the words of the family members left behind after the tragedy is nothing less than heart-breaking.
Which is the main reason I'm hesitant to go into the official cause of the explosion and the doubts I have about it.
In my younger days, I was more into conspiracy theories. I've read a whole bunch about the JFK assassination, which I guess is the biggest one out there. For a few years there, when it was coming up on a milestone anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, there were a whole bunch of stories out there that the King of Rock and Roll faked his death. I realize comparing Elvis to JFK is ridiculous, but it's just another example.
But after 9/11 I became less inclined to go into conspiracy theories. Hearing dopes like Charlie Sheen and Rosie O'Donnell talk about how the World Trade Center was blown up from the inside when we all saw the planes hit the Towers, made me feel worse for the families of those who died that day.
And don't get me started about those who think that over half a million Americans dead of COVID-19 is also a conspiracy to get Captain Orange out of the Oval Office.
But I'm sorry, I have never been able to totally accept the FBI's explanation that the explosion that destroyed TWA Flight 800 on July 17, 1996 was a mechanical failure.
Too many eyewitnesses that night say they saw something going up in the sky before the plane exploded and came down. There were reports that the US Navy was conducting exercises that night. Pierre Salinger, JFK's former Press Secretary, pushed the "Friendly Fire" theory, which at first lent it much credence. But this was also the early days of the Internet, and it turned out Salinger's "sources" were articles easily accessed by anyone who had an AOL account.
One of the other theories was that someone planted something on the plane when it was in Athens, Greece, which would also dismiss those who saw light shooting up into the sky.
Former FBI Director James Kallestrom passed away earlier this month. I remember watching many of his press conferences in the aftermath of the crash and there was just something about the way he was speaking that made it hard for me to trust what he was saying. Can I sit here and tell you what he said that gave me pause? No I can't, so you can't go by me.
There was just something in my gut that was telling me that we weren't getting the full story back then. I'm sorry to say, I still don't think we are all these years later. I have no idea what happened that night, but I don't believe it was mechanical failure that brought down TWA Flight 800, 25 years ago.
BASEBALL: Polar Bear wins HR Derby.
I am still holding out hope that my Mets can hang on to 1st place in the NL East and qualify for the playoffs. As I said last week, their just above .500 record would put them in 4th place in the NL West and out of the money in the NL Central.
The Yankees seem to make the playoffs every year, so for us Mets fans, we have to take the victories where we can get them. And for the 2nd year in a row, Pete Alonso won the Home Run Derby at the 2021 All Star Game in Denver.
He looked damn good doing it too. He ripped 35 homers in the first round, most of them were no doubt about it shots. In the 2nd round, he almost beat Juan Soto without having to use his time-out. Everyone had expected an Alonso-Shohei Ohtani showdown in the 2nd round, but Ohtani got knocked out in triple OT by Soto.
Alonso then faced Trey Mancini in the finals, and the more I heard about Mancini's story, the more of a cad I felt like for not rooting for him. Mancini is a stage 3 colon cancer survivor. Having lost two long time friends to that disease recently, and seeing another friend currently battling it, part of me knew I should have been pulling for him.
But alas, it was the Polar Bear taking the 2021 HR Derby crown. And yes I was a proud Met fan last Monday night, after being an embarrassed Met fan most of Sunday night and Monday morning.
But Alonso said something in the post Derby interview on ESPN that raised my antennae a bit. He said he considered himself "the best power hitter in the game"
Dude I love your confidence, but the numbers aint backing you up. You're not in the top 10 in HR's, RBI's or Slugging pct. I know you missed some games earlier in the season, and I'm not saying you're having a bad year. But the best power hitter in the game should at least be somewhere near the top of the leader boards, no?
I'm just saying, if you wanna be considered one of the best power hitters in the game, now would be a great time to go on a tear, and show the world that you can hit 'em out even when Dave Jauss isn't serving you up meatballs.
BTW: The Mets came back from a 6-0 deficit on Sunday to beat the Pirates. Bad news is they coughed up a 6-0 lead on Saturday to the same Pirates that they blew a 5-0 lead to last Sunday. That they lost 4 out of the 7 games they played against the Pirates, two of them in excruciating fashion and have now lost both Francisco Lindor and Jacob deGrom, it’s very disconcerting.
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It should really go without saying, but unfortunately it has to be said: The racist taunts hurled at the 3 British soccer players that missed those penalty kicks last week were disgusting and unacceptable. You can criticize them without attacking them. I stand by my assertion that Marcus Rashford hesitation on his penalty shot was the beginning of the end for England. But to threaten them with harm or to attack their race was shameful. Good on Prince William for calling those lowlifes out.
Stay Safe
and Have a Great Week
*In my defense I was pretty schnockered that week
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