Weekly Mail October 24, 2021

 

Hey There:

Hope everyone is hanging in there through these crazy times. Not much to report here on the home front, so I guess we’ll get right to it…

ESPIONOGE: Flirtin with Putin...

The Russian State Media last week had a beef with CNBC reporter Hadley Gamble, namely that she was sent by the US to distract Russian leader Vladimir Putin during a Russian Energy Week Panel in Moscow. 

On Vesti Nedeli, a Russian Propaganda Show (Aren't they all?) host Dmitry Kiselyov breathlessly described Gamble's outfits and gestures..

"Hadley squeezed into a tight black dress, fluffed up her flowing hair, and put on a pair of nude leg-lengthening Louboutin high-heel pumps,” he said, saying her legs were “covered in shimmering body oil, as though this wasn’t a work assignment.”

she also “worked her body language to the fullest, moving her legs, constantly playing with her hair, licking her lips, and rolling out her tongue.”

she “behaved boldly, openly positioning herself as a sexual object"

Well I don't know about you, but I need a cold shower after reading all that. Another Russian media member compared Gamble to Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. High praise indeed! 

And I hate to admit it, but the pictures did kind of back him up. I mean could you sit and answer questions if your interrogator was sitting like this? 

 

But let's face it folks, this isn't some ordinary man we're dealing with here, this is Iron-Nuts Vlad, you think he's going to let a pretty face and a pair of legs distract him from his goal of world domination? 

To her credit, Gamble handled all this nonsense with a sense of humor. She could have gone all "How Dare They Objectify Me" especially in this day and age. 

Of course the Russians tried to pull the same stunt on Captain Orange back in 2019, at the G-20 Summit in Osaka, Japan. Putin and his people denied that's what they were up to, and the only reason I might believe them is that you really didn't need to roll out your All-Stars to distract our 45th President, someone in the front row eating a Big Mac would have had the same effect. 

BASKETBALL: I Need a One Dunce...

The Knicks opened their season at a raucous Madison Square Garden the other night against the Celtics. Of course I tuned in just as our heroes were in the middle of blowing a 9 point lead, culminating in a buzzer beater three pointer by Celtic Marcus Smart to send the game to overtime. I was long asleep by the time the Knicks won it in double OT 138-134.

But my favorite story coming out of the NBA this week took place north of the border in Toronto, where Montrezl Harrell of the Washington Wizards exchanged words with Hip Hop star and Raptors super fan Drake, and got a technical foul for his efforts. 

Now Harrell later said the smack talk was actually between one of the Raptors coaches and not Drake. That would make this story a lot less entertaining, and TBH, I'm not sure I'm buying it. Listening to Harrell's mea-culpa afterwards, I almost get the feeling sometime between the 2nd quarter, when this incident took place, and the end of the game, it may have dawned on Harrell being in the doghouse of one of music hottest stars*, is not in the best interest of his career. One of the stories I read about this pointed out that the $9.8 million that Harrell is making this year is couch cushion change to Drake, who made a cool $43 million in 2020. These figures came up because in addition to looking like a dope on Sportscenter, and costing his team a point, Harrell was fined $2,000. He is looking to appeal the fine, since as he claims, the beef wasn't with Drake. 

Seeing this whole thing reminded me of the time the Knicks were playing the Heat on a Sunday afternoon NBC Game in Miami back in 2001. One of the refs tossed a fan out of the arena because he was giving out too much to the officials. Pat Riley, of all people, tried to intervene on the fan's behalf. One would have thought that having been sent packing by the Knicks the previous two years, Riles wouldn't have been so preoccupied with the fans, but the fan happened to be Heat season ticket holder Jimmy Buffett.  

Riley asked the ref "You've never heard of the Parrot-heads?", which nearly got Riley a tech, till he explained what a Parrot-Head was. 

Back to what happened in Toronto, I mean whether Harrell was beefing with the coach or with Drake, this was still not smart. I'm glad he patched things up with Drake, but can you imagine had the Wizards lost by a point? (They won 98-93). That would have been hard to swallow. 

RADIO: A Legend Says Goodbye

Last week in discussing William Shatner's voyage to space, I mentioned a classic quote from WFAN's Steve Sommers. I had wanted to save that story for when the Schmoozer decided to hang up his microphone, but I figured it worked for this situation too.

Turns out I only had to sit on it a couple more weeks, as Sommers announced this week that he'd be leaving "sooner than later". True to form, he will do so without the pomp and circumstance that preceded the departures of Mike Francesca and Joe Beningo. 

It's sad. He really is the last of the originals still at the station. Remember, the original line-up was Greg Gumbel, Jim Lampley, Art Shamsky, Pete Franklin, Howie Rose, and Sommers. Gumbel, Lampley and Shamsky were gone within the year, Franklin never quite fit either and he was booted for what became Mike and the Mad Dog. Howie, of course is still around, doing Mets radio play by play. 

But Sommers has lasted, all these 34 years, he'll be mostly remembered for the overnight, but he also hosted middays with Russ Salzberg (The Sweater and the Schmoozer) which ended in 2000. Sommers considered leaving the FAN at that point, but came back to host evenings where there were no live sports. 

I've never heard anyone say a bad thing about him. Even Craig Carton, who bad-mouthed everyone at the station in his autobiography, (including his current partner Evan Roberts) praised Sommers as a good man. 

He is. He's great with the callers, and the people he pissed off on occasion, (including the putz a few years ago who didn't vote for Jacob deGrom to win the Cy Young Award) definitely deserved it. 

Besides the Shanter story, my other favorite story was one time Sommers was talking to a Jet fan who didn't like the low win total prediction the Schmoozer had made for that year's Jets team. He asked the caller how many games did he think the Jets would win that year, When the caller said 10, Steve played this.

LOL- He'll definitely be missed. 

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

Can you believe the Braves made it to the World Series? The one thing you could almost always count on is the Braves making the playoffs and then promptly pooping the bed. Oh well, what’s the saying “even a blind nut finds the squirrel?” What makes it even worse is that their opponents are going to be the lying cheating Houston Astros. There are few things I find more annoying than a championship game/series where both teams are repugnant. (Think Duke-North Carolina or Patriots vs Buccaneers) 

I don’t want to talk about the Jets today, so we won’t. They were more fun to watch last week when they weren’t playing. 

Next week is Halloween, that should be fun, till then

Stay Safe

and Have a Great Week

* I mean he’s not my cup of tea, but he’s got a bunch of hits on the charts so..

Weekly Mail October 17, 2021

 

Hello Everyone:

Sunday morning Tara, Timmy, and I did the Making Strides for Breast Cancer walk at Jones Beach. The three of us put in about 4 1/2 miles. The walk itself on the boardwalk was probably 3 1/2 miles, but by the time we got from the parking lot to all the concessions to the actual start of the walk on the boardwalk, it had to of been an extra mile or so.

No matter, it was a great experience. The weather was just about perfect. Bright sunshine and a little bit of wind. 

Of course having worked late on Saturday night and having gotten up early on Sunday, I was pretty much toast for the rest of the afternoon. But that was OK, it was well worth it and getting to spend time with the family is always a good thing. When you’re also doing it for good cause it makes it so much better. 

Can’t wait to do it again next year. 

Now, time to catch up on the last two weeks…

BASEBALL: RIP 2021 Yankees

I know this is like the epitome of old news, since the LCS' have already started, but figured we had to give a wrap-up for the Yanks as well.

Let's start off with the play-in game itself. Two things jumped out at me. 

1) I'm sure it's unfair to place so much blame on Gerrit Cole for the Yanks not getting out of the play-in game. But when you sign a deal the size that he did, and you go and spit the bit like he did, it really is part of the deal. 

It's easy for me to sit here and say. "Hey, it's one game, I'm sure he'll earn his money eventually." But let's be honest, if he were on my team, and couldn't get out of the 3rd inning of a win or go home contest, you'd have to peel me off the ceiling. 

Obviously it wasn't just Cole, the Yanks couldn't figure out Nathan Eovaldi either, their lack of clutch hitting once again biting them in the keister. And had they won the division, they could have saved Cole the trouble of having to pitch in the play in game, instead having him start Game 1 of the ALDS. 

But if you have to win one game, and you are paying someone $324 million to pitch, he's gotta give you at least 7 innings. He's going to have to figure it out, or else it going to be a long 7 years for him here in the Big Apple. 

2) Also at the risk of sounding like a Monday Morning Quarterback, Yankee third base coach Phil Nevin's decision to send Aaron Judge home on Giancarlo Stanton's double off the Green Monster was a colossal blunder. I felt it at the time too. It wasn't just that Judge was out by a mile, but now instead of 2nd and 3rd with only one out and the Sox starting to reel, now you have two outs and a runner on 2nd. I'm not buying the theory that Nevin sent Judge because they knew how bad Anthony Rizzo had been struggling. 

Look, I love 3rd base coaches who send the runner. I'm a go for it on 4th down kind of guy, but I also know sometimes it's smarter to punt. You have to know the ballpark you are playing in. I had visions of Mike Ferraro as I watched that play develop. 

Ferraro was the Yanks third base coach in 1980 and during that year's ALCS vs the Royals, he sent Willie Randolph home on a play similar to the one two weeks ago. When Randolph was nailed at the plate, the camera panned to an apoplectic George Steinbrenner in his box at Royals Stadium. Soon after the Yanks elimination from the playoffs, Ferraro and manager Dick Howser were fired. 

And that leads us to the $64,000 question... What do the Yankees do about manager Aaron Boone and GM Brian Cashman? More than one really good Yankee fan I know, ones that have been around since the bad old days and aren't quick to call for anyone's head, are pushing for Cashman and Boone to get their pink slips. Nevin and coach Marcus Thames were let go this past Friday. Now if George was still around, we know Nevin would have had to hitchhike home from Boston. But Hal Steinbrenner isn't the maniac that his old man was. It's the classic chicken or the egg argument.. Does winning breed stability or does stability breed winning? 

Boone's not doing himself any favors by saying that "the league's closed the gap on us" 

Dude!

You were arguably the 4th best team in your own division. You haven't won or even been to the World Series in 12 years. Yes, Boone's winning percentage has been stellar, but the Yankees aren't about winning regular seasons, they are about winning in October. There hasn't been nearly enough of that. 

It's looking more and more like Cash and Boone will be back in 2022. We'll see how that plays out. If it were me calling the shots, Cash would stay but be told that he has till the end of his current deal to get the team right. And I'd make a change at manager. Who would I bring in? Don't know, but I do think it's time for a new voice at the helm. 

As for the current playoff situation, once again we are left with 4 despicable teams to choose from. It's either going to be Astros-Dodgers or Red Sox Dodgers. I can't even allow my brain to process the thought that the Braves could make it to the World Series. And I mean you can't root for the lying cheating Astros right? And I'll say till I'm blue in the face, Boston has met its quota for championships for the rest of the century. 

Ugh! 

Moving on then....

SPACE: The Final Frontier 

The 1990 MLB All-Star Game was played at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Cubs ballpark had just gotten lights two seasons prior. Also, CBS had just began a 4 year deal to broadcast MLB including the entire post-season and the All Star Game.

So when the heavens opened over Chicago that night, CBS, which hadn't broadcast a baseball game since Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, was forced to put on their regular Tuesday night programming, which included a show called Rescue 911, hosted by William Shatner. It was kind of like Cops, except with ambulances'.

                                                                         William Shatner: Rescue 911 

This led many baseball fans to light up the lines of WFAN, and complain to the host Steve Sommers. It was that night that Sommers delivered perhaps my favorite of his thousands of lines over the last 34 years...

"If you're going to show me Bill Shatner, he better be boldly going where no man has gone before" 

Alas, Sommers and the rest of his fellow Trekkies got their wish this past Wednesday, as Shatner was a passenger aboard Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Rocket, along with three other lesser known, (but no doubt equally rich) passengers. 

The four passengers spent 4 minutes in weightlessness, the whole trip lasted a little over 10 minutes, and the rocket took off and landed somewhere in the desert near Van Horn, TX about 100 miles east of El Paso. 

Shatner was clearly moved by the experience. He spoke emotionally to Bezos upon his exiting the rocket. 

Now some folks are saying that this just another example of rich men playing with expensive toys while the rest of us are scraping by. 

Pish-posh I say. 

I still believe that space travel and exploration is a worthy pursuit, and that there is still so much to be learned from going up above the atmosphere. Sure, Bezos letting the man who played Captain Kirk ride up there gratis was a publicity stunt. (I wondered aloud if perhaps Shatner had bid for his Blue Origin ticket on Priceline.com, but was told that Bezos himself covered the fare) 

                                         Fortunately, Shatner didn't have to negotiate his rocket tickets

But, let’s face it, you have to start somewhere. And while I wouldn’t consider myself a Trekkie by any stretch, I dig where Bezos was coming from. 

And as for the idea that this money could be better used for other things like helping the poor and the sick, I say I still think we can walk and chew gum at the same time. There are some really and truly unnecessary shit that people are blowing money on, both in the public and private sectors. You can redirect that money to help the less fortunate. 

The more this is done and proven safe, the more likely it will be that us less moneyed folks will one day get to travel into space. Or more likely our kids and grandkids. I'm not gonna lie, I got a kick out of the whole thing. And as I've said before, I still believe that a successful space program is something that can unite all of us, no matter what side of the aisle you support. 

Here's something we haven't done in a couple years....

MOVIE REVIEW: No Time to Die

Starring: Daniel Craig, Lea Seydoux, Rami Malek, Ana de Armas

Saw it with: Timmy

Took the fam up to Fishkill for a couple days of R&R. There's a theater right next to where we usually stay, so I figured maybe it would be a good time to take in a picture. Our rules were simple; find seats that were at least 6 feet away from anyone else. If the theatre was so crowded that social distancing wasn't possible, we'd keep our masks on. That would mean no movie corn or drinks, but for this movie we figured it was worth it. Fortunately, the theater wasn't too crowded so there was enough room to spread out. 

As for the movie itself, I don't want to give it away. I will make the following observations...

Craig has said this would be his final go as James Bond. I do hold out hope however that he and Jeffery Wright will do some sort of buddy-cop movie together some day. They are great together, more so in this movie. 

de Armas was the supposed "Bond girl" or whatever the PC police say we should call them now, but she was only in the film for a few minutes. Her scenes were excellent, but she wasn't the love interest. I don't think I'm giving too much away with that info. 

Remi Malek is an amazing actor. I thought he was brilliant as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, and he was brilliant here as the Bond villain. 

I'm going to do a bar room BS about James Bond, where I'll give more details about the movie. I'll say this, it was a worthwhile 2 1/2 hours. 

4.5 Aces

I think this is much ado about nothing, but I'm going to write about it anyway because well....

ROCK AND ROLL- McCartney vs Jagger and Lennon

Paul McCartney is one of those larger than life figures than when he speaks, it makes news, even if it really shouldn't. 

For example, in on an upcoming episode of This Cultural Life on BBC Radio, McCartney states that it was John Lennon who broke up the Beatles, just like he told Howard Stern a couple years ago, just like he had said countless times over the years, and every time he says it, it gets breathlessly reported.

Here's what he says on the BBC programme..

"I didn't instigate the split. That was our Johnny," McCartney said.

"This was my band. This was my job. This was my life. So I wanted it to continue."

"Oh no, no, no. John walked into a room one day and said, 'I am leaving the Beatles'," McCartney said.

"And he said, 'It's quite thrilling, it's rather like a divorce'.

"And then we were left to pick up the pieces."

We've known this for 50 years folks. John said he wanted out, Allen Klein, the then manager who everyone but Paul wanted, asked them to keep it under wraps till they got Let it Be in theaters and the album into the shops. Paul went and recorded his self titled album "McCartney" and decided he had enough of the charade and released the album along with a press release that the Beatles were no longer. 

What I'm sure Sir Paul didn't mention in the interview was that at one point John and George sent Ringo over to see if he could convince Paul to hold off on releasing the McCartney album. Paul apparently went bat$hit at that suggestion and told the drummer to take a hike.*

I'm also fairly positive that Paul is making the rounds here to promote the upcoming three part remake of the Let it Be Movie that Peter Jackson has completed. The Beatles Get Back will be on Disney Plus in November.

As for this apparent spat with Sir Mick, again to me it's a mountain out of a molehill. In a profile in the New Yorker magazine....

 in which the ex-Beatle told editor David Remnick: “I’m not sure I should say it, but they’re a blues cover band, that’s sort of what the Stones are. … I think our net was cast a bit wider than theirs.”

Then an interview Paul gave to Howard Stern resurfaced, in which he was more clear what he meant about the blues cover band line...

Their stuff’s rooted in the blues. When they are writing stuff, it has to do with the blues. Whereas we had a little more influences. There’s a lot of differences, but I love the Stones, but I’m with you. The Beatles were better.”

Ok, I could see "but I think the Beatles were better" maybe ruffling some feathers, but I mean what the hell is he supposed to say? I’m  sure Mick thinks the Stones were better. I don't think so, but I know plenty of people who agree with him. I love the Stones, I've seen them twice in concert (and if I had half a brain in 1989, it would have been 3 times) 

In his autobiography, Life, Keith Richards spoke ad nauseum about how the blues influenced him and Mick and the late great Charlie Watts. Both Keith and Charlie played in blues bands when they weren't touring with the Stones. They started out as a blues band that evolved into the rock and roll hall of famers that they became. I really don't think Paul was taking a dig at them. 

Mick made a joke during the Stones show in LA the other night that Paul would be joining them "in a blues cover later."

What I would of said if I were Mick is that "Paul and his Little Richard cover band will be performing later", because if you look at Paul's early work with the Beatles, that's who he emulated. The Beatles I'm Down is essentially Good Golly Miss Molly. 

According to Variety Magazine, after Mick cracked his joke, one of the fans at the show tried to start a F-ck the Beatles chant. When he was met with quizzical stares, he responded "Paul McCartney is a f-cking wussy"

Classy. I wonder who he voted for in 2020. 

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

The Jets should play all their games in London, or at least play their games at 9:30 AM. That way they can lose and I can get on with my day like I did last week. This week was even better, they're off.

BTW, speaking of the Jets in London, I know some of you saw it, but did anyone else see where Marisha Wallace had to sing our National Anthem? She was up on this tiny stage on top of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. I'd have tossed my tea and crumpets just standing up there, never mind singing in front of 60,000 people. Then to top it off, the RAF did a flyover as soon as she was done singing. I would have been hanging on for dear life at that point. 

We’re halfway through October, a little over a month away from Thanksgiving. I hope you all are hanging in. 

Stay Safe

and Have a Great Week

*Ringo actually testified to that in a British court

Weekly Mail October 3, 2021

 

Hi Everyone:

If you read my Mets special earlier today, thank you. My original plan was to just put it all in one blog post, but I decided to spare the non-baseball crowd my rantings on the subject. It ended up being even longer than I thought, so we broke it up. 

Hope you all enjoyed it. 

I think I've discussed this before, but I am seriously considering switching to a different blog service. A few years ago, the service I use, Google Blogger, changed the way they counted how many times a blog post was clicked on. I'm not quite sure what the issue is, but where I was getting 50-60 hits a week, all of the sudden it was between 10-20. 

And now, my first three blogs of the new season have only produced a total of 24 pageviews. (10 for the 9/11 Special, 8 for the Season Premiere and 6 last week.)

The issue is that I'll get 6 page views but 8 people comment on FB, or someone will stop me in the street, so I'm sure more people are reading it than Google Blogger is letting on. I know it shouldn't matter, I know its probably my ego and my insecurity eating at me, but I really would like to know a) who is reading it and b) how many people are reading it. 

So I will be reaching out to some of my fellow bloggers to see what service they use and if they are happy with it. Depending on the feedback, we'll see how we handle this. I realize it's not the end of the world, but as I always say, the more readers I get, the more I can charge my advertisers, and I pass those savings along to you. 

Onto the week that was...

CRIME: Foul Tempered Fowl

This sounds like the plot of a Hitchcock movie, or a Bugs Bunny cartoon, but according to News 4 NY, it's legit.

Leon Suseran a Jamaica, Queens resident was on his way to work one morning, when he was attacked by a, I say,  attacked by a rooster.

Suseran told News 4 New York's Checkey Beckford "Just usually walking to go to my bus to head to work, and I felt a peck on my left hand. This thing kept coming so vicious, almost evil... blood was gushing and I was trying to apply pressure to it and it kept charging at me."

Good Lord! Queens has gone to the birds since I left (sorry-maybe that's why I'm not getting as many blog hits)  

Apparently Suseran isn't the only one who has had run-in's with the angry bird. Parents have been warning their kids not to ride their scooters on 169th Street.

The Post got an interview with the rooster's owner, Miguel Contreros, who said that his rooster and the other chickens he keeps as pets, don't attack anyone. In fact the rooster in question usually cuddles with his daughter.

Well I mean if that don't sound like a crock of sh-t, I don't know what does. 

I'm the first to admit I'm not a pet person. You want to get a dog or a cat or a goldfish by all means. But some people want to keep the weirdest pets. WTF do you need a rooster for, can't you spring for an alarm clock like the rest of us?  

I just hope these folks in Jamaica can get some peace. Nobody should have to worry about getting attacked by a rooster in New York City, lord knows with all the other crime going up, this is the last thing anyone needs.

Where's Elmer J. Fudd when we need him? 

FINE DINING: Detroit's New Italian Restaurant

The hottest new restaurant in Detroit is called Mom's Spaghetti, and it's owned and operated by one Marshall B. Mathers III otherwise known as Eminem. 

The future hall of fame rapper named his new bistro after a lyric in his song Lose Yourself.   Fans lined up around the corner the other day as it opened it's doors for the first time. 

There is limited seating, but it's more of a take-out place than a sit down joint. Indeed, Slim Shady hisself was there on opening day, serving food out the take out window. 

Amongst the items on the menu are Mom's Spaghetti for $9, Mom's Spaghetti with Meatballs for $12 and a 'Sgetti Sandwich, spaghetti on bread, for $11.

The sandwich sounds like something one would eat after a night of boozing and waking up at the crack of noon. Again this is more Sbarro's than let's say Il Vagabondo. 

The reviews have mostly been positive, though I'm not sure anyone goes to Detroit for the Italian food. Also, would you want to be the one to send back a dish made at an Eminem establishment? I'm old enough to remember what he did to poor Moby at the MTV Awards in 2002. He'd make Gordon Ramsay look like Mr. Rogers. 

I'm not the biggest Eminem fan, but I would try to stay on his good side. I'd tell him it was the best spaghetti I ever had, even if it tasted like that Skyline Chili slop they have in Cincinnati.  

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

I know I went off on the Mets in my earlier blog post today, but I think it's only fair that we review the upcoming baseball playoffs. 

First of all, kudos to the Yankees for making it to the play-in game. They clinched in spectacular fashion, a walk off infield hit by Aaron Judge to win 1-0 against Tampa. If they beat the Red Sox on Tuesday night at Fenway Park, they’ll make the playoffs* and face the Rays in the ALDS. 

I wasn’t necessarily rooting against the Yanks on Sunday, but part of me wanted to see this end up in a 4 way tie along with Toronto and Seattle. What a delicious mess that would have been. Alas it was not to be.Had either the Blue Jays or Mariners been in the NL East, they would have won the division. That’s neither here nor there.

But how would you like to be the Dodgers? 106 regular season wins and they could be sent packing if they lose their play-in against the Cardinals. And with the Cards being one of the hottest teams in baseball the past month, that’s a distinct possibility. 

I’ll watch the Yanks on Tuesday, not sure about the rest of it. Still licking my wounds. To my Bombers fan readers, good luck. 

And hey, both the Jets and Giants won on Sunday. Will wonders ever cease? 

You're getting two for the price of none this week because I think we are going to take off next weekend for Columbus Day. And for those of you who think I have gone full blown left wing liberal, please be assured that I will now, have always and always will refer to the 2nd Monday in October as Columbus Day. 

As always, thanks for reading 

Stay Safe

and Have a Great Week

*just a reminder that although MLB classifies both the Yankees and Red Sox as having made the post-season, WM does not acknowledge the loser of the Wild Card game as having qualified for that year’s postseason. The 2016 Mets for example were not a playoff team as far as I’m concerned. 

Weekly Mail Special: Mets 2021 Recap

 

***************************RIP:THE 2021 NEW YORK METS*********************

Let's start at the top and work our way down.

SANDY ALDERSON-On social media, many were calling for his scalp, saying the game had passed him by and stuff like that. In the regular sports media, he came under fire, as his last three big hires for the Mets ended up in various forms of trouble. Mickey Calloway and Jared Porter sexually harassed women, and Zack Scott got busted for DWI. 

Alderson graduated from Dartmouth, then joined the Marines and served in Vietnam. After that, he graduated from Harvard Law School and was the general counsel to the Oakland A's when he was hired as their GM. He wasn't a career baseball guy, who spent his younger years in the minor leagues chasing women around. I believe him to be a stand up guy and an honorable man. I would bet almost anything, that he never mistreated any employee who worked for him, male or female. 

Yes, ultimately he is responsible for the people he hires, but to be honest, I don't think it ever crossed his mind that someone would take pictures of their unmentionables and send them to unwitting female journalists. I'm gonna guess his reaction when he found out that Porter did that was "Why?" 

And as for Calloway, I mean, I never heard a word while he was managing the Mets that he gave anyone any trouble. He managed here in 2018 and 2019, right in the heart of the #Metoo movement. I don't believe any of this was brought to his attention and he swept it under the rug. I could be wrong, but that's my stance.

And unless Scott was stumbling around the Mets offices like Dean Martin, how can you predict someone is going to decide to take a nap right in the middle of Old Mamaroneck Avenue* at 4 in the morning? And it's not like baseball hires Mormons to run their teams. As Phil Mushnick pointed out, they practically dug Tony La Russa out of mothballs to manage the White Sox, and he has as many DWI's as he's had World Series rings. 

Now, I am in total agreement that Sandy Alderson should not be the Mets GM. For starters, I'm sure he doesn't want the job and more importantly, Steve Cohen didn't hire him for that role. I think Cohen wants Sandy to be the team's Chief Operating Officer. Cohen's making his billions as a hedge fund honcho, he wants Sandy to run the Mets. That means hiring a director of baseball operations and a GM. 

And I'll be stunned if either Theo Epstein or Billy Beane gets the baseball operations job. 

Why would they?

Beane lives in California and has an ownership stake in the A's. Why the hell would he pack up and move to New York, and sell back his stake in the A's? To come back where he started? (He was drafted by the Mets in 1980). I just don't see it. 

And Epstein, who helped to end perhaps the two biggest droughts in sports history. (86 years for the Red Sox, 108 for the Cubs) might look at the Mets and be like, 35 years? That's nothing. Why give up my cushy job with MLB to take on that? 

Whoever the new GM is, will have to hire a new manager, which leads me to

LUIS ROJAS- I've said this before and I'll say it again, I think Rojas has the makings to be a really good MLB manager. His father was a great manager and his family is rich in baseball tradition. Also, it seemed as though all the players that came through the Mets system the last few years gave praise to Rojas with helping them in their development. The idea that he's some baseball dunce is pure folly. 

That being said, he made a whole bunch of head scratching decisions in the dugout this year, especially in terms of pitching, that leads me to believe he may need some more seasoning in the minors. Or as someone with more experience's right hand man. 

Too many times, he pulled a pitcher who was rolling for a pitcher who didn't have it. And while that doesn't make him unique amongst today's analytic driven managers, he really took it to a whole new level. 

In his defense, at one time he had Pete Alonso, Michael Conforto, James McCann, Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo on the injured list and he still managed to keep the team in first place for a long time. But as the season wore on, it seemed like the team stopped showing heart. That's inexcusable. 

I feel about Rojas the same as I felt about Willie Randolph back in 2007. He knew his baseball, but he couldn't get his players fired up. The big difference between Willie and Louie was that Louie wasn't afraid to get himself tossed every once in a while.  Otherwise, it was the same sad song. 

I do hope Luis Rojas gets another shot, and I think he will. I just don't want him to get it here. 

Now onto some of the players

FRANCISCO LINDOR- When Bobby Bonilla signed his 5 year $29 million contract with the Mets in 1991, he told the assembled media that "They'll never knock the smile off my face." 

That lasted all of about 12 seconds. 

Lindor on the other hand, played the game with an infectious joy. Even when he was not hitting, which he wasn't for most of the season, he played hard, he hustled. And he made some spectacular plays in the field too. I insisted all along that by the time his 10 year contract ran out, even if he had some rough years at the end, he would still be a net positive. 

Now? Let's just say I'm not as convinced. 

Yeah the thumbs down thing pissed me off (more on that later), but I also kind of got the feeling that he was really beaten down by the end of the season. I'm not sure he gave it is all when it began to look like the team wouldn't make the playoffs. 

But you know something? Many moons ago, I felt the same way about another Met. 

Mike Piazza.

Indeed, after the Mets lost the last 5 games on the 1998 season and blew their chance at the playoffs, I laid most of the blame on Piazza. I also figured he had already punched his ticket back to Southern California, to play for the Angels. So I bid him good riddance. 

But a funny thing happened that off season. 

Piazza found himself missing the Big Apple from his home in Florida. I believe he had also stuck around a little bit and watched the Yankees run to the World Series, and saw and heard what NYC is like when one of it's teams wins a title. He thought about the nights that summer that he rocked Shea Stadium. All that, and $91 million kept him here in Queens. And my sister Katie only a few years ago stopped reminding me of my rant that after the last game of the season in 98.**

Lindor doesn't have that option, for better or worse we are stuck with each other for the next 10 years. But maybe he can consult with Piazza, or Derek Jeter or even that blowhard A-Rod, and see what can happen in this town to young, good looking superstars if they win (or come close to winning).

Lindor has to stay, but

JAVY BAEZ- does not.

Baez may be the more apropos comparison to Piazza, as both were midseason acquisitions.  But my gut is telling me on Baez that we are looking at another Yoenis Cespedes situation. Maybe he won't be getting chased by wild boars or anything, but I can see not getting the bang for the high amount of bucks we are going to have to shell out to keep him here. 

I could be wrong about this. He's played well, even shown some plate discipline, doesn't equate a walk to having root canal. And the though of him and Lindor locking down our middle infield for the next few years is very appealing. 

But the thumbs down pissed me off (and I promise we'll address that shortly) and who knows if he'll go back to his swing at anything ways over the course of a full season. I realize we now have an owner who can sign a player to a big contract and not be hamstrung by the contract if it turns out bad. But a few more of these bad deals and Cohen might get gun shy. All I can say is I will happily eat crow*** if they sign Baez and he turns out to be a stud. 

All right, lets talk about the..

THUMBS DOWN- After a 9-4 win over the tanking Washington Nationals on August 29, Baez, Lindor and Kevin Pillar gave the thumbs down sign to the cheering fans. Baez, who hadn't even been here a month, explained

“Just the boos that we get,” . “We’re not machines, we’re going to struggle. We’re going to struggle seven times out of 10. It just feels bad when I strike out and I get booed — it doesn’t really get to me, but I want to let them know that when we’re a success, we’re going to do the same thing, to let them know how it feels.

“Because if we win together, then we’ve got to lose together and the fans are a really big part of it. In my case, they got to be better. I play for the fans and I love the fans, but if they’re going to do that, they’re just putting more pressure on the team and that’s not what we want.” NYT-August 30,2021

Cue the violins! 

One of my friends said that she was most disappointed in Pillar over this because we fans stuck by him after he got hit in the face with a fastball earlier in the year. I was pissed at Lindor. As I stated previous, I stuck up for him even when he wasn't hitting. I appreciated his good attitude and I believed that would be what would get him through his struggles. Instead he pulls that crap. 

This is my attitude on booing.... I of course boo the other team. With my own team, I very rarely boo a player per se, but I boo the performance. If a guy grounds into an inning ending double play, I boo. If a player strikes out with the bases loaded, I boo. But I'm booing what he did, I'm not booing him.

If a pitcher has a rough outing, yeah I'll boo sometimes as he leaves the game, but again, it's the performance, not the person.

There was only one time I ever booed a Met before he even took the field. In 2003, Armando Benítez blew a bunch of games in the 9th inning. The final straw was on a Sunday Night against the Yankees at Shea, he blew another lead, and the Yanks ended up winning the game in 11 innings. 

A few nights later, they brought him into a game against the Marlins and as he walked in from the bullpen, I booed his a$$. I wanted no part of him as a Met anymore, Ironically he was traded to the Yankees, of all teams, later on in the season. 

I always clap as they announce the lineups and when the guys get up. 

But we the fans pay good money for these games and these guys are making millions of dollars. I don't deny the fans the right to let their voices be heard. The fact of the matter was the Mets played like crap for most of August and they deserved to be booed. You don't want to be booed, play better. It's that simple. 

That's my $0.02 on that...now back to our recap.

JACOB dEGROM: Now, you want to know where I will hold Alderson's feet to the fire? Right here as it pertains to deGrom. 

All summer we heard that all the MRI's he was having were coming back clean, yet they kept shutting him down. Finally, Alderson came out on September 8th and said he had a sprain in his UCL, AKA a tear in his elbow ligament. 

So obviously the MRI's weren't "clean" and the Mets front office allowed even guys like Ron Darling to question deGrom's heart and toughness. I'm sorry but that's just f-cked up. 

And now Sandy is saying that the ligament healed itself and is perfectly intact. Does that make you feel reassured? Cuz I'm not.

I knew deGrom was done for the year the first time they pushed him back two weeks in late July. I just don't understand what they feel they had to gain by lying? 

I could almost see at the trade deadline maybe downplaying the injury. George Steinbrenner used to pull that crap all the time. "Don't tell them how badly hurt he is so we don't get fleeced in a trade." Inevitably it would come out anyway and whoever the GM was at the time would find their heads squarely on the chopping block. 

But after July 31st, when they didn't get a front line pitcher anyway, why keep up the charade? To sell tickets? I'm sorry, but that's Jeff Wilpon type bull$h-t there. 

I have an old friend who kept insisting deGrom was going to end up having Tommy John surgery, and I believe that more than I believe he's going to be our starter on Opening Day 2022. And really? If DeGrom ends up having TJS, then the next discussion is when will they be having his night at Citi Field, because he a'int coming back from that to pitch at age 35 or 36. 

I would make qualifying offers to Noah Syndergaard and Michael Conforto. I imagine Thor would accept his as he probably won't get too many offers coming off two years on the shelf. Conforto, especially with Sc-mbag Scott Boras as his agent, will probably test the waters. If so, then I would bid him a fond farewell. He's the Chris Kreider of the Mets, oodles of talent, but has never put it all together. I can't see the Mets giving him a huge deal, not after this season. If he goes somewhere else and has a big year, I'll put him with Justin Turner as a guy who just couldn't hack it in the Big Apple. If he signs with the Yankees and has a big year, I might sit in the middle of Times Square and cry. 

Folks, to wrap things up: Obviously, any year you don't make the playoffs is disappointing, but this year really stings. It only took 85 wins to clinch the NL East. For us to be out of the race as early as we were after being in first place most of the season is truly pathetic. It was stated the other day that the Mets were the first team in baseball to have been in 1st place over 100 days and finish the season with a losing record. As a franchise we have way too many of those dubious distinctions.  I was telling Karl (the Ace) Ludwig and (Razor) Ray McGarvey the other night that this is the first year in a loong time where I really don't hold out much hope for the future of this team. In 2013, we had Matt Harvey starting the All-Star Game at Citi Field. In 2014 Jacob deGrom won Rookie of the Year. In 2015, we went to the show, and even though I blew a gasket after we lost, we still had that great young rotation. We made it to the play-in game in 2016, then injuries sabotaged us in 2017. 2018 was another rough year, but they came on at the end and deGrom was all world on the mound. Another bad June cost us in 2019, but deGrom was almost better than the year before, and Pete Alonso was the most exciting everyday player we had in years. 2020 we hoped was an aberration due to COVID-19, and hey, we were getting Daddy Warbucks as our new owner!

Now? What do we have to look forward to? Maybe if Beane or Epstein come we can hold out some hope, but even at that, I can't get excited. I have no idea if Lindor will bounce back, or if deGrom will ever pitch again. Karl and Ray think they underachieved. I think it's like Bill Parcells says, you are what your record says you are. And hey remember how I said it felt like 1991 around Flushing in August? At 77 wins, that's exactly how many wins they had in 1991. 

And that's why for the first time in about 10 years, Wait Till Next Year sounds more like a threat than a promise. 

And for a die hard fan like me, that just stinks. 

*I'm not sure where they found Zack Scott. I just know it was in White Plains and that's the only street I know in White Plains

**That I said it on Kate's 15th birthday was another point she liked to bring up

****But if he stinks, then you can eat Crow-Armstrong #seewhatididthere?