Hey There:
I first posted the above Ron Burgundy meme a few years ago, when the meteorologists were breathlessly predicting another huge snowstorm. It was meant to be funny, a slight exaggeration.
But this week, I actually heard a few weather forecasters make similar predictions. Talk about hedging your bets!
But that's how truly unpredictable this weather track was. It was a matter of a few miles. By late Thursday, it was apparent that most of the Northeast was in for it. Here in NY, it started around 7 PM on Friday night. By daybreak Saturday, I could barely see out the front window.
So kudos to the weather people, I spend many a day blasting them when they are wrong, so today I tip my cap to them as it seems like most of them nailed this one.
Please let me know how the city does in terms of getting you all dug out, as this will be an early test of the new Mayor Adams administration. So far it seems to be OK, he seemed to be and and about offering moral support if nothing else. But since I’m here in the burbs, I can’t really say for certain. Again, to my peeps in the 5 boros, let me know how it goes.
Onto the rest of the week. Mostly Sports
FOOTBALL: Playoff Classics
We usually post this between 8 and 9 PM on Sunday night. So it was put up before the end of last weeks classic Bills-Chiefs AFC divisional playoff game.
I'm not old enough to remember the old AFL, but I've read the stories. I also remember reading about the classic USFL shootout between Houston Gambler QB Jim Kelly and Los Angeles Express QB Steve Young as they passed for over 1,000 yards combined in one 1984 game.
The late 4th Quarter of this game reminded me of those games. Two amazing quarterbacks, duking it out, playing "Can you top this". And while I think those USFL shootouts were defense optional, the Bills came into Kansas City boasting the league's most stingy defense, making Patrick Mahomes performance all the more impressive.
And Josh Allen, well, as a Jet fan, the thought of having him in the same division as us for the next 10 years or so is to say the least, disheartening. About the only solace I can take is that he is in Buffalo and not New England.
The big issue that this classic raised (again) is regarding the overtime rule. For years, it was sudden death, first team to score wins. Then they modified the rule to make it that you had to score either a TD or a safety to win. Kicking a FG would force you to kick off to the other team.
And since Mahomes and Allen were basically throwing touchdown passes at will, it placed even greater importance on the coin toss. And I dig the argument that no team should lose a game, never mind a playoff game, on a coin toss. Kind of reminds me of the time George Steinbrenner ripped Yankee president Al Rosen for calling the wrong side of the coin toss to determine where the 1978 play in game for the ALCS would be played.
But then you had this afternoon’s game, between the Bengals and the Chiefs.
In the beginning, the Chiefs were moving the ball at will, kind of like they picked up where they left off last week. But all of the sudden, they looked a lot like they did in last year’s Super Bowl. They just fell apart.
The Chiefs had a golden opportunity to score a TD at the end of the 4th quarter, but Mahomes tried to scramble and ended up nearly running the Chiefs out of field goal range. That’s inexcusable. I was all over Zach Wilson for doing the same thing, but he’s a rookie. Mahomes is a Super Bowl Champion, throw the f-cking ball away! Running 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage accomplishes nothing.
The Chiefs managed to kick a field goal to send the game to OT. They even managed to win the coin toss. But Mahomes threw an interception and the Bengals marched down the field and probably could have scored a TD if it was necessary. All they needed was a FG. That’ what they got.
I shouldn’t be as mad as I am. The Bengals are a great story, Joe Burrow seems like a really easy guy to root for, and the other two times they were in the Super Bowl, they were good games.
I can usually laugh it off when I end up with egg on my face, because it happens so often, but for some reason tonight, it’s just humiliating. I was so sure that whoever won last weeks Bills-Chiefs game was going to win the Super Bowl, now neither team is even in it. I just feel like an idiot.
As far as the OT rule debate, I’m wondering if what happened today will quell that for the time being. We’ll see. I don't really like the college OT rules, where each team gets the ball at the other team's 25. If that was the rule last week, they’d still be playing. But maybe figuring out a way for both teams to get the ball in OT would be ideal. At this point, I really don’t give a $h-t.
Even before this afternoon’s debacle, I had no interest in Niners-Rams, I don't like either team. I’m sure since I’m not watching it, they’ll be talking about it for years.
But I will give my $0.02 on the whole Mina Kimes-Jeff Garcia feud... Kimes, a panelist on various ESPN football shows, basically said that the 49ers were winning games in spite of QB Jimmy Garoppolo and not because of him. She compared him to a kid on a group project for school who doesn't do any work but gets the good grade with the rest of the kids who actually did work on the project. Garcia, took great offense to this, and gave the old "She never played football so how would she know?" argument.
Where's Howard Cosell when we need him?
So, while I think Kimes was being a smidge unfair in her criticism of Garoppolo, Garcia's point is outdated and despite his denials, offensive and sexist. If Garcia wants to hear QB critics who never played a game in Pop Warner, never mind the NFL, he should spend a week here listening to the FAN. With the QB's we've had here the last few years, there's been a lot to criticize. And with the exception of Boomer Esiason, none of the other hosts have lined up under center. (Tiki Barber was a running back) There is no shortage of critics who never played.
Jeff Garcia
HOCKEY: Number 30 to the Rafters
Lord knows I've made it crystal clear that Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan doesn't do much right. (Talk about a kid who gets A's on projects he didn't do any work on) but one hat tip I will give the thin skinned phony is that he's done a great job of honoring the Knicks and Rangers of the past.
It seems weird to say that Henrik Lundqvist is a Ranger of the past. It's only been 2 seasons since he was between the pipes, but Friday night, he got the well deserved honor of having his jersey retired.
I got stuck running some last minute before the blizzard errands, so I caught most of the festivities on the radio, but I'm sure it was brilliantly done. I've seen enough of these ceremonies to know the Garden does this right, all the time. If they were as good at hanging championship banners as they are hanging old jerseys, we'd be on to something huh?
That having been said, those who claim that Lundqvist didn't really deserve this because he never won a Cup are morons. I'm telling you (and anyone who saw this man play can attest to this) the Rangers would have never gotten as far as they did in 2012, 2014 or 2015-trips to the Conference Finals in 12 and 15, a trip to the Cup Finals in 14) without him.
It's the same moronic argument people make about Patrick Ewing. How have things worked out for the Knicks since Ewing was traded to Seattle? How about the worst record in the NBA since 2000?
Thankfully the Rangers have a goalie in Igor Shesterkin who has been very good so far. Of course the Rangers had to go screw things up on Friday by losing to the Minnesota Wild. In what can only be called poetic justice, the Rangers were robbed at the end of the game, first by the referees, who waved off an apparent game tying goal, and then by the Brainiacs who run the replay reviews in Toronto, who confirmed the crappy call.
On a night where his number was retired, what better way to truly honor the man who gave up a goal against the Kings in the 2014 SCF with defenseman Dwight King laying on top of him with nary a whistle for goalie interference, by calling a phantom goalie interference penalty. Not that I'm pissed off about it or anything.
Cheers to you king Henrik!
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I wasn’t going to say anything about this, but I was working on a deal with Spotify to have James Earl Jones do an audio version of Weekly Mail. However, I decided to join Neil Young and Joni Mitchell and cancel the whole thing. It would have been a nice opportunity to expand, but well, sometimes you gotta take a stand.
Also found out this morning that Howard Hesseman, who played Dr. Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinatti, and Mr. Moore on Head of the Class, passed away at 81. WKRP was one of my favorite shows, and now I think the only ones left are Venus Flytrap, Les Nessman, Andy Travis, Bailey Quarters, and Jennifer Marlowe. We lost Herb Tarlek a few months ago, and the Big Guy, Mr. Carlson in 2003.
And yeah, if you must know, I watched Head of the Class. I had a little crush on Simone. (Khrystyne Haje).
Besides Fever and Mr. Moore, my other favorite Hesseman role was Capt. Pete Lassard in Police Academy 2. Specifically this scene
I still yell “Is all that crap necessary?” at the chef whenever I go to a Hibachi restaurant. People love going out to dinner with me.
Good luck digging out NY.
Stay Safe
and Have a Great Week
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