Please allow me to (re)introduce myself (and what the hell this is all about).....
I'm Bill and this is our weekly look at the world. Be it politics, sports and news in general, with a few personal stories mixed in. All with my weird, wacky, sometimes controversial but always honest take on the issues.
For how this all started, we go back 25 years ago, around this time of year, 1996.
My buddy and co-editor Karl (the Ace) Ludwig, came over to my house one Friday night with a telephone wire and an America Online Disc (AOL for you younggins out there). We ran the line from the basement phone to the computer and loaded in the disc. I chose my username
(WildWill45. WildBill45 was taken. So we improvised. The 45 was my basketball number the one year I played in High School)
I now had the world wide web at my fingertips, and what did I do with it? Mostly spent time going to Beatles Fan club websites, and then chatrooms. Pure Bliss! I could find anyone in North America who wanted to discuss if Free as a Bird was a legit Beatle song. If I tried to have that discussion at the bars, they'd look at me as if I was insane!
There were sports chatrooms too. I once had a heated discussion with someone about who should win the 1996 AL Cy Young Award. I was pushing for Andy Petitte believe it or not, while this other dude from Canada was endorsing Pat Hentgen of the Blue Jays. That Hentgen eventually won the award doesn't mean I believe my argument wasn't valid. 25 years later, I still think Andy was robbed.
And then, there was e-mail.
I used to write little editorials, either in longhand, or I typed them out on my word processor and print them. The idea that I could write something out and simply hit send was mind blowing. That the person receiving it could write something back almost immediately? That was almost beyond comprehension.
So, usually on Sunday night, so as to not tie up the family phone line*, after everyone else turned in, I would write an e-mail to my friends, detailing my weekend activities (which to be honest mostly entailed either trips to the bars in Midtown, or Donovan's/Shelley's), followed by a couple of random thoughts on the state of the world at the time. The e-mail went out to a grand total of 3 people at the time, the aforementioned Ace, then (Razor) Ray McGarvey and his sister (and also one of my best friends) Mary. They were the only 3 people I knew that had e-mail addresses. So they got the first Weekly Mails.
As more of my friends got e-mail, either through AOL and Yahoo or through their jobs**, I was writing more Weekly Mails. Everyone got their own. By 2000, with the internet having exploded, I just started writing one giant e-mail. Everyone got the same one. This worked out great for a while.
Then a couple things happened.
For one thing people started to complain that they didn't want some of the things they had done over the weekend repeated for all the world to see. I could dig that. Sometimes I would write something that was funny if I said it in conversation with a smile, but came off mean and insensitive in the black and white of type. So I had to watch it.
And then 9/11 happened.
And my Weekly Mail became very political. I mostly was writing to vent out the pain I think most of us were feeling at that point. Let's just say I fully supported any and all military action in response to the attacks. And while I don't necessarily regret or take back most of what I said, I maybe should have kept some of those thoughts off the computer.
I started working at the Post in November 2003, and was surrounded by some of the most brilliant and talented writers you could ever meet. Some of them became WM readers and many of them complimented me on my writing, which made me feel great. What was ironic was that many of my co-workers at the Post leaned to the left and disagreed with many of my positions.
Once I got married and we had our son, I kind of got away from writing as much. I weighed in here and there, but no longer writing every week.
Then in 2015, I got sick. And while I was recovering, I met with someone who asked me what my hobbies were. When I told him about what I used to do, he recommended that I maybe start it up again. By this time, Facebook had become the behemoth that it is, so rather than e-mail it out, I just started blogging and posting it. Now readers have the option of clicking on it, or skipping it. You don't have to worry about getting it between Viagra ads and Publishers Clearinghouse applications in your e-mail.
So you know what you're getting into, here's where we stand....
POLITICS- As I mentioned before, after 9/11, we were very much center-right here at WM. Gradually as time went on, we started moving somewhat leftward.
Then Donald Trump was elected President of the United States.
I've tried to separate my feelings for the man and my feelings for his policies. He is, in my opinion, a self centered, paper thin skinned, name calling bully. And I feel that his policies are geared to help himself, his family and if it benefits some of his friends, so much the better.
I feel like the President should show some decorum. I believed that when Bill Clinton was getting his knob polished in the Oval Office just as much as I believe it when it comes to Donald Trump.
I am very much pro Joe Biden. I don't agree with every position the man has, but I believe to be a fair, just and honorable man. Somebody once said, "If you can't get along with Joe Biden, there's something wrong with you."
That somebody was Lindsey Graham.
Having said all that, I don't want you the reader to feel that this isn't a blog post for you.
First, you can always challenge what I say, I'm open to debate as long as you don't take personal shots at me. I also call out bad behavior on the other side too. I was all for Andrew Cuomo resigning as governor, though I agreed with how he handled COVID (for the most part). I will be happy when Bill De Blasio is no longer mayor of NYC. I've had my issues with the so-called Squad.
Secondly, this isn't strictly a political post, and my goal is to have something for everyone to enjoy.
So we also discuss...
SPORTS- My teams are the Mets, Rangers, Jets and Knicks. We also root for Notre Dame in College Football and St. John's in College basketball.
I will write about the Yankees, Islanders, Giants and Nets on occasion. Sports doesn't seem to raise the temperature as it were, though sometimes it does. The last time one of my teams won a professional championship was 1994. I do a lot of kvetching about that fact.
FUN STUFF-My favorite thing to do is to find an amusing news or sports story and put my own humourous spin on it. That's the most satisfying part of this. Those stories don't always present themselves, but we try to find them and do what we can with them.
There are a couple of issues we will draw no quarter on though...
COVID 19- Both my wife and I work in hospitals. I'm more in the offices, but Tara was on the front lines in the early days of the pandemic. We have both seen what this virus is capable of, so there is no tolerance for anyone who tries to downplay it. Few people are bigger weenies when it comes to needles than I am, and masks fog up my glasses. But I am most definitely pro vax and pro mask mandates. This has nothing to do with who is President or not. There are very few issues where I will not entertain debate or discussion. This is one of them.
JANUARY 6, 2021- I believe that the actions taken on 1/6 were nothing short of a terrorist attack on the US Government. I know not everyone agrees with this, and I will listen to dissenting opinions, but I will not change my mind.
I believe Black Lives Matter.
I believe Blue Lives Matter.
I believe all of us have the right to come home from work to our families every night without incident, which I believe is the crux of both the above stated positions.
I believe United we Stand and Divided we Fall. That doesn't mean we agree on everything, it means we try to let what we have in common define our relationships and accept the differences.
Everyone who reads this blog has crossed paths with me in some way shape or form. We either went to school together, worked together, or grew up together. Some of you are parents of my son's classmates and some of you I met through being in the same FB Fan group (Rangers and Mets). Many of you are family and pretty much all of you are friends. I believe we are all here for a reason and we might as well make the most of it.
All right, if you've gotten this far and haven't said "This guy's off his freakin rocker", let's get to it then...
SINCE WE'VE
BEEN GOOOOOONE!
POLITICS: Afghanistan
One of the sentiments I expressed in my 9/11 special is the idea that I fear that if anything like that ever happened again, we wouldn't get that spirt of unity that prevailed in the days following the attacks. The combination of cable news, social media, and the overall tension in the country that has been consistently running high, means that the finger pointing and name calling would commence immediately or even while the attack was happening.
The murder of our 13 servicemembers outside of Kabul Airport was an absolute gut punch to all of us. We lose one service member, it's a bad day, 13? That's just horrible.
George W. Bush used to say "We have to be right every time. They have to be right just once." This was one day unfortunately that they were right.
Could it have been prevented? Who knows. My opinion of how Afghanistan should have been handled hasn't changed from when we last published. I still feel that a peacekeeping force should have been kept there. And if that had been the case, maybe this would have been avoided.
And yes, I am placing some of the blame of President Biden. He's the boss and the buck is supposed to stop with him. I think calls for his impeachment are ridiculous, the way I thought calls for George W's impeachment over Iraq were ridiculous.
Biden has to own his share of the responsibility. As a supporter of his, I admit it wasn't his finest hour. I still believe the good days will out number the bad days, and that America and the world will be better off than we were when he took over.
But I really would have liked to see a day of mourning, or an outpouring of love and support for what we all as Americans, lost on August 26. Maybe I missed it, but I don't think so. I just think we live in a dog-eat-dog world. And we're all the poorer for it.
Oh and I try to keep these to a minimum, but we sometimes do celebrity
OBITUARIES
Rod Gilbert (August 22)- They called him Mr. Ranger, and for good reason. He is the franchise's all time leader in goals, assists and points. he played his entire career on Broadway, and chose to retire and take a position in the front office rather than go play somewhere else, when he still felt like he could contribute. (A dispute with then Ranger GM/coach John Ferguson led to his release)
But what struck me about Gilbert's death was the outpouring of sympathy, not only from the Rangers, but from folks outside the hockey world. WFAN doesn't like to talk much hockey during the hockey season, yet Sunday night host Chris Moore made sure to get Howie Rose on to discuss Gilbert's legacy. The next morning on Boomer and Gio, they spent a segment talking about him. That might not have been unusual if Boomer Esiason was there, but he was off and it was the rest of the crew (Greg Gianatti, Jerry Recco and Al Dukes) who talked about him. Gilbert was Boomer's favorite athlete growing up, and he wore number 7 at all his NFL stops in honor of his hero. The two also became good friends. Boomer spoke at length about this on his return to the FAN thatTuesday
As did (and this blew me away) Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling. Both Met broadcasters (and former players) came to NY in 1983, and both credited Rod Gilbert for showing them all the hot spots around the city, during the Mets-Giants broadcast on August 24. Remember, Hernandez famously wanted nothing to do with New York when he was traded here from St. Louis. I'd now like to think that Rod had something to do with Keith's decision to sign a deal with the Mets after the 83 season.
I'm sorry obviously that he never won a Cup here in NY, but to a man, everybody talked about how happy he was when the franchise finally won one in 1994.
One last story that I think bears mentioning.... During a Knick broadcast last winter, Mike Breen and Walt (Clyde) Frazier were talking about former NBA player Popeye Jones, who son, Seth plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets in the NHL.
Breen asked Clyde if was ever into hockey, and he responded "Oh yeah. My best friend when I first got to NY was Rod Gilbert. I'd go to the Ranger games, then Rod and I would go out on the town afterwards."
Picture THAT!
Charlie Watts (August 24)- To have the job as drummer for the Rolling Stones sounds like one of the great gigs of all time. But I also imagine you'd have to have a certain temperament to pull that off. You have one of the greatest guitar players of all time in Keith Richards, and one of the most famous performers in the world in Mick Jagger, with egos and personal chips on their shoulders to match.
I imagine Charlie Watts had to not only be an amazingly talented drummer, he also had check his ego at the door. I'm a rock and roll fan, but I know many of you are more knowledgeable than I am about these bands. But let me ask you, could you see Keith Moon, or Ginger Baker or even the affable Ringo Starr on the same stage as the Glimmer Twins? It wouldn't be big enough for all of them.
Watts was the perfect drummer at the perfect time for the Stones, and one of the main reasons they have had the staying power they had. There were times I'd see him in concert and he looked like he was somewhere else in his mind. It was probably that he had played these songs so many times, he could do it in his sleep. Just an amazing performer and good man.
Norm Macdonald (September 14)- I felt bad about Rod Gilbert and Charlie Watts, but Norm Macdonald was a real kick to the chops.
Karl and I met Macdonald back in 1995, right after his first season on SNL at the Barrow Street Ale House. We thought Norm was drunk that night, but it turns out we were the ones who were hammered. Norm had quit drinking, he just talked like he was blitzed.
I put Macdonald 2nd all time as Weekend Update Anchor. Dennis Miller is my all time favorite, and Tina Fey is right behind Norm. (Chevy Chase to me didn't do it long enough-though he deserves props for being the first)
One of my favorite memories of Macdonald was when he was on Celebrity Who Wants to be a Millionaire with Regis Philbin. The rules for the celebrity edition was you'd breeze through to the $32,000 question, even getting help from the other players if necessary. But from 64,000 on, it was you and your lifelines. And if you got one wrong, you're charity was only getting $32,000, and most likely you were ponying up the other $968,000.
Norm amazingly got the $500,000 question right and was now getting the Million Dollar question.
After pondering it for a couple minutes he answered, but before he said Final Answer Regis was like "Norm I'm being serious here, don't answer unless you know it."
"Fine, just give me the half million."
Once Norm committed to accepting the 500 thou, Regis revealed that the answer Norm was going to give was right. I thought Norm was going to kill Regis right there on national TV.
He was brilliant. And brilliantly talented. And most of all funny.
Here is Norm Macdonald on Millionaire.
Here is 34 minutes of all of Norm's OJ Simpson jokes from Weekend Update. (H/T to Ray for this)
And the best way to honor the late great Norm Macdonald?
I'm gonna hold off on my Mets rant for a couple of weeks, since they are all but eliminated from playoff contention, we will wait till their officially cooked and then we'll give them the business.
I usually try to end these on an up note. If I can find something off beat and funny. I think we've packed a lot into our first one back from hiatus. I always find this time of year tough. Back to school, back to the grind as it were. But the weather is usually nice and there are good things to look forward to.
Thanks for hanging with me. It's good to be back and I missed all of you. (Well. most of you) 😁
Stay Safe
and Have a Great Week
*This proved to be a problem if someone else in the house wanted to use the phone. Fortunately, I showed my dad how we could go to AOL Sports and get the NFL Scores right there on the monitor, and they wouldn't move! Marking the office football sheets became so much easier than listening to Sports phone or getting them off the TV. A short time later, Dad ordered a separate line for the computer.
** I shutter to think about some of the sh-t I wrote that ended up on Corporate Servers. In the early days of e-mail, you didn't have people monitoring the content. Nowadays, I'd have cost many people their jobs, including myself. Also, I probably cost myself a shot at being GM of the Mets, and if I want to run for office, I have no choice but to run as a Republican.
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