Weekly Mail August 21, 2021

 Hi Everyone:

So I'm sorry I didn't produce a WM Finale as I had promised. Here's what happened.

My little nephew, Brendan T. Hay, was Christened last week. I was on such a high from seeing him get baptized, and actually spending some time with my new little guy, that I honestly couldn't bring myself to start writing, especially about so many awful things going on in the world. 

I like to go out on a high note, but I can't not speak about  Afghanistan. So we'll start there. 

THE DEBACLE IN AFGHANISTAN...

Let us all get one thing perfectly clear here.... Nobody holds the high ground on what is going on in Afghanistan. 

Everyone here knows I'm a Joe Biden guy. I voted for him, I'll vote for him again. I have no problem telling anybody that. 

But having said that, he screwed up here. Big time. 

He was the chair of the Senate Foreign relations committee, it was that experience that led then candidate Barack Obama to tap Biden as his running mate. Biden's seen it all. 

How could he miss this? 

How could he not think the Taliban weren't prepared to pounce as soon as we pulled up stakes? 

I understand our main objective in invading Afghanistan in October 2001, was to capture Osama Bin-Laden, destroy al-Qaeda and take away their safe haven, which at that time was Afghanistan. So if we really weren't interested in nation building, why not leave then? Why stick around another 10 years? 

I'm guessing part of the answer to that is, "well we wanted to keep training the Afghan troops so they could hold off the Taliban." Indeed, a report that was posted on the NYT Website on Saturday said that intelligence reports given to the White House said that the Afghan Military could hold off the Taliban for 1 to 2 years. We all see how that worked out. 

But guess who doesn't have the right to crow about any of this?  Captain Orange and his minions that's who.

Of course when have the Trumpsters ever let the truth get in the way of anything. So they want you to forget that this whole withdrawal plan was put together by Trump's Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. You want to say Biden should have seen the error of this plan? I agree 100%, but had Trump still been in charge, the withdrawal would have been done even sooner and I guarantee you with far worse consequences. Remember, Pompeo was actually negotiating with the Taliban.  

All I could think of when I heard that was "Could you imagine the outcry if it was Obama negotiating with the Taliban?"

And Mr. "I Make the Best Deals" got taken to the proverbial cleaners on this one. 

You can also put some blame on the man who was in charge when Bin-Laden was killed. As I asked before, why stay all these years if we really weren't interested in building a better Afghanistan? I give Obama all the props in the world for OK'ing the mission to take out Bin Laden, but what was the point of the last 10 years then? 

And then there is the original punching bag himself, George W, the man who put the original plan in place to rout the Taliban out of Afghanistan. By taking his eye off the ball in Afghanistan and focusing on Iraq, he prolonged this conflict as well. (Full Disclosure-I supported the Iraq invasion, however with 20-20 hindsight, it's now obvious to me that had we committed the resources to Afghanistan that were used to topple Saddam Hussein, we would have completed the mission there faster)  

So there is plenty of blame to go around, as I said when I started this. I'm not a Middle East expert (if you haven't figured that out yet) I don't have any answers, I don't know really if staying in Afghanistan indefinitely was the right thing. I just have to go how I feel, and the idea that the Taliban is going to be in charge on 9/11/2021 the way they were on 9/11/2001 is just something very hard for me to stomach right now. 

Not Nearly as Important but also quite aggravating.....

BASEBALL: The Fall of the Mets

It's starting to feel an awful lot like 1991 around here.

That year, the Mets were either in 1st place or very close to it for most of May, June and July. But come August they completely fell apart. By September, it was so quiet at Shea Stadium, you could hear the US Open across the street. That was partially due to Jimmy Connors whipping Louis Armstrong Stadium into a frenzy, but up till that point I had never seen that before.

This year the Mets were in first place from the middle of May all the way to the first week of August. But now they are in 3rd place and falling fast. 

Injuries are a big reason. Francisco Lindor, even though he wasn't hitting much, I still believe was a positive influence on the team. Jacob deGrom is hurt worse than the team is letting on. I'll eat crow if he's back pitching when I return in September. My guess is he's done for the season. Now I'm just hoping he's not done period. 

The Mets should be getting Lindor and Javy Vasquez back, so at the very least we can get a look at how they work together for the next few weeks. Maybe once they finish playing the Dodgers and the Giants, they'll feast on lesser teams. I doubt it. There's little shame in losing to those teams. It's the losses to the Marlins and the Pirates that hurt them the most. 

I think they are done. And it's such a shame. I know when Steve Cohen bought the team, he said he was looking for a championship within 5 years. I respect the fact that he wants to build a franchise that produces homegrown talent and doesn't need to tank every few years to rebuild. I just feel like we had an opportunity this year to do something special, to take advantage (as they say on Wall Street) of a down market. Instead we're going to be on the outside looking in again. While the Dodgers, Braves, Astros and Yankees are playing for a title as usual. 

Sad and Humiliating. 

And on top of everything else, as I'm writing this, Long Island is bracing for a Hurricane. 

HELP WANTED-Game Show Host-

The long search to replace the late Jeopardy host Alex Trebek appeared to come to an end when the show announced that executive producer Mike Richards would host the day to day show, while actress Mayim Bailik would host prime time specials. 

However, a podcast that Richards hosted in 2013 and 2014 came to light last week. In the podcast, Richards made derogatory comments about women, little people, the mentally challenged and the poor. 

So out the door he goes. 

And Lord forgive me, I kind of feel the same way I felt after Carlos Beltran was forced to resign as manager of the Mets. I didn't think he should have been hired in the first place, but I'm not necessarily happy he lost his job under these circumstances. 

I'm not condoning what Richards said. I didn't condone Beltran's cheating. I realize they both had to go. I just hate these circumstances. I'd rather they not get hired because there was someone more qualified than because they are dumbasses or cheaters. 

In any event, it's back to the drawing board. I'm guessing Bailik doesn't want to the full time gig because she still wants to act full time. There's a big push for LeVar Burton to host, and that would be fine with me. My early vote was for Ken Jennings, but he was a bit dry. I'm not sure what the thinking behind hiring Richards was, unless they are hoping to create a new star as opposed to bringing in an established name. 

I'm thinking Burton is the choice here. People know him and like him and if there were any skeletons in his closet, they would be out by now. 

Stay tuned. 

As I put this season finale to bed tonight, I want to leave you with the following message.

If you're not getting the COVID-19 vaccine because you have questions about it, I understand. So go ask a doctor... hell, ask 10 doctors if you want. There is plenty of literature, plenty of experts who are willing to explain what the vaccine is and what it can or can't do. If you have concerns, fine. But you can have those concerns addressed. And you'll see that you can trust the vaccine.

But if you're not getting the vaccine because Tucker Carlson is telling you not to get it, or you think you're doing Captain Orange a favor (and screwing over Joe Biden in the process) then shame on you. If that's what the holdup is, do what Sarah Huckabee Sanders did.. get the vaccine and call it The Trump Vaccine. I don't give a sh-t what you call it. I'm looking to see if we can invent a syringe based on the Talking Donald Trump pen, make it feel like Captain Orange is peeing the vaccine right into your arm. 

Anything to get these numbers down. I'd really like to get completely back to normal soon. We took a big step this year. We can do better. 

Stay Safe 

and Enjoy the Rest of the Summer.  

Weekly Mail Returns in September

Weekly Mail August 8, 2021

 

Hey!

Thursday I completed my 48th trip around the sun. I was looking forward to this birthday more than usual, not because I had anything big planned, but because I really wanted to get away from that ugly number with the 4 and the 7 in it. Something about that number I just don’t like. It wasn’t a horrible year, considering we were still in the pandemic and all the various crap going on around the world, but here’s hoping the coming year will bring good things, for all of us. 

I was trying to lay off politics till next week’s season finale, but we have to address what went down this week with the governor of NY.

POLITICS: Cuomo Crisis

I watched some of the press conference held by NY Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday, as she and her team laid out the accusations against Governor Andrew Cuomo. I trust that the AG had no hidden agenda, that she conducted a through and unbiased investigation, and that what they came up with was very disturbing. And yes, I believe Andrew Cuomo should not be the governor of NY anymore. Let me make that loud and clear. 

But should he resign?

Yes in a perfect world he absolutely should. But so far, he has indicated that he won’t.

People are going to say it doesn’t matter and maybe it doesn’t, but it matters to me.. How many people are celebrating the impending removal of Andrew Cuomo as governor of NY, but can’t wait to give Captain (Grab em by the p-ssy)  Orange another 4 years in office? Either by waiting till 2024 to vote him in again, hoping upon hope that Mike (My Pillow) Lindell has the information he says he has to overturn the 2020 election (Spoiler alert…..he doesn’t) or by overrunning the US Capitol and putting him back in office in a coup d’etat? There have been dozens of women who have accused Trump of inappropriate sexual behavior. Do we care more about groping, or who is doing the groping?

Do you really want Cuomo gone because he touched these women inappropriately, or do you want him gone because he made you wear a mask? 

I want him gone because I believe the Attorney General’s report. There is no circumstance where a man should ever reach under a woman’s shirt to touch her breasts. At the very least you should lose your job, if not get prosecuted. I’ll never vote for him again, if he ever runs again. 

But you better be consistent. If Andrew Cuomo has to go, then Donald Trump doesn’t get to run again. Al Franken resigned from Congress after pictures of him groping a female became public.  If Matt Gaetz, who is being investigated by the Justice Department for sex trafficking,  is found guilty then he needs to go too. This isn’t about Democrat or Republican, it’s about right or wrong. 

Too many times, we lose sight of that. 

Not to make too much light of a serious situation, but one of Cuomo’s alleged inappropriate behaviors was singing the Contour’s 1962 hit Do You Love Me to his then health policy advisor Charlotte Bennett. Bennett told Cuomo that the song was “before her time” 

I don’t know how old Ms. Bennett is, but folks my age remember that Do You Love Me was re-released as a single in 1988, to coincide with it’s inclusion on the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack. I remember this clearly for two reasons. 1) You couldn’t turn on the radio during the summer of 1988 and not hear this song. It was on every damn station. 2) I had a friend in Rockaway, who no matter what she was doing, would get up and dance on the beach every time this song came on. She could be right in the middle of a conversation, or she could be passed out, but no matter what, as soon as the singer finished saying “And now I’m back. To let you know I can really shake ‘em down..” she was up and dancing. 

Good times. 

BOOK REVIEW:

Two Sides of Glory: The 1986 Red Sox in Their Own Words

By: Erik Sherman

Erik Sherman has written some good books about the Mets, including one where he interviews many of the 1986 World Champions.

In this book, as the title pretty clearly explains, he speaks to the runners up in 1986, the Boston Red Sox, who were twice one strike away from winning the whole thing. 

As my loyal readers know, I have only gotten to celebrate two of my teams winning championships. The 1994 Rangers and the 1986 Mets. That’s not much to hang your hat on for all the years I’ve been watching sports. 

But reading this book, and some of the stories these Red Sox players tell, of the hardships and heartbreaks, you almost feel bad they didn’t win. I had to remind myself a couple of times that their losing that series was a good thing for me. 

I won’t give away the stories because they are worth your while to read them, but there are two things I’d like to point out that I took away from the book:

1) The 1986 Red Sox are treated in Boston like they won that Series. Bill Buckner, before he passed away a couple years back, was as beloved a figure in Boston as anybody. Much of that came from the grace and humility he showed in the years following 1986. People also remembered how much of a warrior he was, how bad his ankles were by that fateful night in 1986. He isn’t remembered for that one lousy play in Game 6, that quite frankly wasn’t entirely his fault anyway. 

2) The first thing I said to my father as I saw that ball roll through the aforementioned Buckner’s legs was “we did it! We’re gonna win the World Series”! Dad cautioned me “We gotta win one more, Champ!”

I wasn’t concerned. For in Game 7, the Sawx were starting one Denis “Oil Can” Boyd. 

Back in Game 3, whilst I was making Confirmation, the Mets were putting a 4-spot on the Can in the first inning. According to Jeff Pearlman in his book The Bad Guys Won and less graciously in Ron Darling’s book 108 Stiches, the Mets were riding Boyd from the bench. He was obviously rattled. Boyd could be lights out when he was focused, but more often than not in 1986, he was anything but.

The Can spent a good chunk of his chapter trying to convince Sherman that he would have won Game 7. A rainout the night after Game 6 moved Game 7 to Monday night. More importantly, it allowed Sox manager John McNamara to bring Bruce Hurst back on three days rest. Hurst, unlike the Can, had shut the Mets down in Games 1 and 5. 

If it helps Oil Can Boyd sleep at night to think he would have pulled himself together in front of 56,000 maniacal Met fans at Shea Stadium and pitched his team to a World title, so be it. I sometimes convince myself that if my high school’s varsity basketball coach hadn’t brought in a 7ft 2in Dutch kid who went on to play for Dean Smith, onto our JV team in 1988-89, Mr. McGlone would have put me on the team. In reality, I wasn’t as good a player as the 15 guys that made it, and Oil Can Boyd would have gotten his doors blown off again. 

Excellent book though. Highly recommended 

4.5 Auggies

And don’t get me started about the Mets. Someone forgot to tell them my birthday was last week.

LAWSUITS-The People vs. Ronald McDonald

According to a story in the Post, a Russian Orthodox Christian Woman is suing McDonalds, because their advertising caused her to break her Lenten fast. 

Ksenia Ovchinnikova in a court statement, said “When I saw an advertising banner-I could not help myself….I visited McDonalds and bought a cheeseburger” She went on to say that this was the first time in 16 years she was unable to successfully fast during Lent.

As Bill Clinton would say, I feel your pain. 

The form of Christianity that Ksenia follows forbids all meat, meat-by products, poultry, eggs and dairy throughout Lent. Holy crap! All I’m supposed to do is not eat meat on Friday. And that’s hard enough! I can have a bagel, a tuna fish sandwich and all the pizza I can eat and I still get tempted to have a burger. 

But I have been good. The only time I was really tempted to have meat on Friday during Lent (and I really believe the little baby Jesus would have been OK with it) was on my honeymoon in San Antonio back in 2006. I said to Tara “We only get one honeymoon, I think we can give ourselves a dispensation” 

Fortunately it became a moot point, as the hotel we were staying in had the best Seafood Restaurant in San Antonio, if not the whole of Texas. And being that we were on the famed Riverwalk, it also didn’t violate Ed (Auggie) DePuy’s rule about not eating fish in a restaurant where you can’t see the water.

As I said I know how hard it is to abstain, but seriously we’re going to sue now every time we have a hankering for a Big Mac during Lent? That’s just opening up a huge can of worms. Besides, the point of fasting is to resist temptation isn’t it? There are 40 days of Lent because the Bible said Jesus walked through the desert and didn’t eat for 40 days and nights, despite the devil tempting Him by imploring Jesus to turn the stones into bread. Jesus responded “Away Satan, for man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”   

He didn’t then turn around and have His attorney serve Satan with papers.

                 Jon Lovitz as Satan on The People’s Court 

Ksenia is seeking 1,000 rubles for her troubles. That’s  about $13.50 in USD. McDonalds could just give her a coupon for a Happy Meal and call it a day, but again, I think they need to fight this. It would set a horrible legal precedent. Just get the Fillet o Fish next time.  

Sorry we got this out late. I’ll try to get the season finale out on time Sunday night. 

Everyone Stay Safe

and Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail August 1, 2021

 Hey Everyone:

So the game plan here is two more posts after this masterpiece, and then our summer hiatus till September.  Hope everyone has enjoyed their summer so far. It’s going quick. Every year they go by quicker. 

Onto the week that was..

The Games of the 32nd Olympiad

I was driving into work on Tuesday when the alerts came over my phone and the guys on the radio were reporting that US Gymnast Simone Biles was pulling out of team competition. She explained that her reasons for pulling out were to deal with her mental health issues. 

I'm not going to lie, my very first knee jerk reaction was disappointment.  She's arguably the best ever at what she does, and she gave the US an excellent chance at winning gold. I also thought about the young woman who trained and trained for a spot on the team and just came up short,* someone none of us will ever hear about. What must be going through her mind?

But then my mind flashed back to the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. If you're around my age or older, you'll recall two men named Dan O'Brien and Dave Johnson. They were competing against each other as decathletes, and both were expected to medal. 

Reebok devised an ad campaign around "Dan and Dave."  Starting with Super Bowl XXVI in January 1992, our airwaves were inundated with commercials for Dan and Dave. Reebok reportedly spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 million for the ad campaign. 

But lo and behold at the Olympic trials in New Orleans, about a month before the Games, O'Brien failed to qualify when he lost in the pole vault. Johnson if I recall had his own issues, but qualified for the Games and won a bronze medal. 

More than one knucklehead, either on TV, Radio or in the papers said "Don't feel bad for Dan O'Brien. You should feel bad for Reebok for spending all that money for those commercials." 

I don't know if it was because I was less than a year removed from my own track and field career in high school, the fact that I wore Reebok all the time and knew how much their sneakers cost, or maybe I was channeling my inner Phil Mushnick, who loved to point out that those $100 sneakers cost about $10.00 to make by some poor kid in Vietnam making 50 cents an hour, but my heart broke for Dan O'Brien and I thought anyone crying for Reebok was an absolute moron. 

To put all that work in for all those years, and miss out because you had one bad day, I mean that just has to tear your heart out. And as I thought about Simone Biles, and all the work she put in for this moment in time, to not be able to go must have been soul crushing. I cannot imagine what is causing her to not be able to compete. And it really doesn't matter.

What does matter is that she get the help she needs and goes on to have a happy productive life. If she can come back in 4 years and compete again, that would just be a bonus. 

Hey I get on pro athletes all the time. I'm going to do so again later on in this broadcast. Francisco Lindor is next year going to make more money than many of our lifetime earnings combined. When he hits into a double play, I'm the first one to yell. I'm not proud of it, but I do believe if your pulling in that kind of coin, you gotta produce. 

Simone Biles and many of these other Olympians will probably never approach that kind of money, even if they are successful. They don't deserve to be ridiculed, they deserve our respect. And our well wishes that they can overcome whatever adversity they are facing. 

Speaking of Lindor and the Mets..

BASEBALL TRADIING DEADLINE

The Mets went down to the wire, but were able to acquire SS Javier Baez from the Cubbies for their first round pick last year, Pete Crow Armstrong. 

Baez is a great player, so I'm not complaining about the deal. With Francisco Lindor out, he can fill in at short and give us some stick. My question is what happens when/if Lindor comes back, where does Baez play? He has volunteered to play 2nd in deference to his pal Lindor, which is darn nice of him, except where do you play Jeff McNeil, who has been raking as of late? Third base? OK, what about JD Davis? I know JD's best position is DH, which as I said before is the one stupid rule change from Commissioner Manfred that I wanted them to keep (the NL DH-instead they kept the 7 inning doubleheader and the runner on 2nd in extra innings). I guess these are what are known as good problems to have.

What aren't good problems to have are injuries and it seems like we just have too many of those. Now they are saying that Jacob deGrom is out till September? Man. I was praying we'd get another starter when I thought Jake was coming back in August, now what the fudge? Max Scherzer said he would invoke his no-trade rights to avoid the Mets, so F him and anyone who looks like him. The asking price for the guy I really wanted Jose Berrios was either Dom Smith and prospects or Jeff McNeil and prospects. I love both Dom and the Squirrel, but damn we really could have used another arm. I hope this turns out to be the best trades being the ones you don't make. 

And I'm not sure I totally trust the Mets in regards to DeGrom. I'm more convinced now than ever that his arm is worse than they are letting on. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not buying the elbow inflammation explanation.  Maybe I'm just preparing for the worst, but if he's pitching in September, I'll be surprised. 

The Yankees went out and bought as if the old man was still in charge, bringing in Joey Gallo, Anthony Rizzo, and Andy Heaney. Unlike George Steinbrenner, Hal Steinbrenner only signed off on these deals if the Rangers and Cubs respectively picked up the majority of the remaining salary. That's pretty un Yankee like, but good on them for pulling it off.  

Gallo and Rizzo give the Yanks something I can't believe they didn't have, left handed power. I can't remember a good Yankee team that didn't have at least one left handed power hitter. Now they have two.  They still have a tough road to hoe, as both the Red Sox and Rays ahead of them, and the Blue Jays behind them made moves to improve. But they have some more weapons to play with now.

Should be a roller coaster two months. 

SAME OLD JETS? 

Football training camps opened this week and it took but one day for the Jets to piss me off. Every other team had their number 1 pick signed, hell, there's not even that much to negotiate, as the salaries have already been collectively bargained and slotted. But the Jets, who could make a hot fudge sundae taste like rotten cauliflower, decided they didn't like some of the language in QB'S Zach Wilson's contract. Namely, that if Wilson flames out, gets cut before his contract runs out and signs with another team, the Jets were trying to make it so that the other team has to pick up the remaining money on the deal. 

Well that's what Stuart Smalley referred to as Stinkin Thinkin. Are we already convinced that Wilson is going to be a bust so we are covering our a$$es now? What the hell? Maybe it's good business, but to me it smacks of bad optics. Unless I'm misunderstanding the situation, which is entirely possible. 

HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY

To MTV. August 1, 1981 was the launch date for what was originally supposed to be a 24 hour channel dedicated to music videos. For those of you lucky enough to have cable tv back in the 80's, you got to watch Hungry Like the Wolf 20 times a day. 

On Sirius/XM 80's Channel, three of the original MTV VJ's serve as the station's DJ's. Mark Goodman, Nina Blackwood and Alan Hunter are still on, always talking about their time on MTV. Martha Quinn retired from the biz a few years back, and JJ Jackson passed away in 2004. 

Every week, the three remaining VJ's do a Top 40 Countdown from that week in any given year between 1980 and 1989. Coincidentally (or not) this week they are counting down 1981. 

Goodman has the most contacts and information when he is on the air. He keeps in touch with many 80's performers, even the obscure ones. Blackwood is pretty knowledgeable as well, her voice is deeper than most truck drivers. Hunter is the Ralph Kiner of the trio, constantly getting artists confused and making blunders, but still has a great radio voice. 

MTV is now mostly reality shows, and nothing like what it was when it first came on the air, playing what video........ yes, Video Killed the Radio Star (something all three of them never fail to point out whenever they play it). For another trivia question, what was the number song in America on 8/1/1981?**

Anyway Happy 40th MTV

I don't want to get into it too much here, but I would be remiss if I didn't say this: If you watched any of the testimony of the cops that were defending the US Capitol during the terrorist attack of 1/6, and weren't moved and disgusted by what took place that day, then I really don't know what to tell you.  

On a lighter note, Barney the Bull is still on the loose out in Suffolk county. They were talking about it on Boomer & Gio, and someone who claimed to be a farmer pointed out that the plan to catch Barney with a horny cow was doomed from the start as Barney had already been fixed. 

The latest brainstorm was to lay out cow manure hoping to lure Barney out of hiding. The thinking goes that if Barney smells something familiar, it will attract him. 

Sounds like a bunch of bull$hit to me😁

Stay Safe 

and Have a Great Week 

*Herb Brooks who coached the 1980 Miracle on Ice, was supposedly the last player cut from the 1960 Men's Olympic Hockey team, that ended up winning the gold medal in Squaw Valley, CA. 

**Jessie's Girl-Rick Springfield