Hi Everyone:
Sorry we didn't publish last week. Just wasn't feelin it too much.
So I hate to start off this post with such trivial nonsense, especially with everything going on in the world today, but I saw something in a department store that well, for lack of a better term, creeped me out.
I was shopping for socks on Saturday morning when I happened upon the underwear/t-shirts section of the store I was in. I saw boxes of briefs and boxes of boxers.
But I noticed that many of the underwear boxes were already open, whatever seal used to close them was broken. And when I picked up the box, it clearly looked like the skivvies were stuffed in there, like someone had taken them out and decided to put them back in!
What the hell?
All I could imagine was some dude taking this box of underwear to the fitting room and trying them on. I mean is that even possible? And deciding that "well red plaid is not my thing, so I'll just take 'em off and put 'em back on the shelf."
EWWWWW!
It's like the episode of Seinfeld where Kramer asks Jerry if he can borrow a bathing suit. Jerry says, "I don't know if I want your boys down there." I dig where he's coming from. I know I don't want to be wearing draws that someone else tried on, where someone else's boys resided, if even for a few seconds.
I don't know if anyone else has encountered this, if so feel free to share with the class. If not let this serve as a PSA... make sure you are buying your underwear from a reputable underwear dealer.
OK, now that I got that off my chest.
WAR- Russia Invades Ukraine
A couple weeks before the second Gulf War started in 2003, I was reading one of the gossip columns in either the News or the Post, where I happened upon a blurb about a Pretenders concert in San Francisco. Lead singer Chrissie Hynde in between songs, asked the crowd if the war had started yet, then proceeded to say that she hoped America lost the war. "Bring it on, give us what we deserve!"
I was never a big Pretenders fan, but after that I changed the station whenever one of her songs came on. There were plenty of people who had issues with the decision to go to war with Iraq, be it the questionable intelligence, the idea that it would take away from the mission to catch Osama Bin-Laden/dismantle Al-Qaeda, or just those whose nature was to oppose all way, no matter what the reasons or intentions were. I understood all that.
But to say that you hoped we lost? That was over the line for me. That was hoping that our men and women would be coming home in coffins. That was rooting for a family to have to bury a child, a parent, a sibling.
Almost 20 years later, and if I'm being honest, not quite as convinced as I was back then that going to war in Iraq was a good decision, it still burns my a$$ that she said that.
And those feelings of anger came back last week, as Russia invaded Ukraine, and a number of my fellow Americans thought this to be a good thing. You know, because, Let's Go Brandon, right?
It’s one thing for washed up rock stars to come out and bash America like that. It’s another to have a piece of crud like Tucker Carlson do the same thing. But to have the former President of the United States come out and praise Vladimir Putin like he did? Again I have to ask where does the line get drawn with him?
If anybody thinks that a recalibrated Soviet Union is a good thing for any of us, I mean I can’t even wrap my head around how anyone would consider that. And yet if you are praising Putin or rooting for him, THAT is what you are praising.
THAT is what you are rooting for.
And if you don’t like the way President Biden is handling the situation, that’s your right. But please tell me how you want this situation handled? You want to send in troops? Bombs? I admittedly don’t have the answers. Russia has enough firepower to make St.Louis the east coast of the United States. And while I’m confident it won’t come to that, it’s a bit more of a possibility than it was two weeks ago.
Yeah I’m glad I’m not one of the people that have to make these decisions. What I do know is that cheering on a dictator who is hell bent on taking over a huge chunk of Europe, who is having innocent women and children senselessly murdered, all for the purpose of scoring cheap political points, is not the answer either.
And now in less important but equally aggravating news…
BASEBALL: Season Delayed, but whose to blame??
On Tuesday afternoon, the MLB Players Association rejected the owners "last best offer", this after it seemed like significant progress had been made by both sides to get a deal done before the deadline imposed by baseball commissioner Rob Manfred to avoid cancelling any regular season games. The deadline had been Monday, but due to the progress made, it was extended to Tuesday at 5 PM. When the players rejected the last offer, Manfred announced that the season's first two series would be canceled.
Some people are taking the players side, a very few are taking the owners side, but the overwhelming majority of folks I've spoken to are taking my position that it's just one side of greedy f-cks vs another side of greedy f-cks, and the only side who is truly getting shafted are us, the fans, as usual.
The signs for all this were blinking loud and clear back in 2020, when both sides were trying to figure out how to get the game back going during the early days of the pandemic. Back then, I kind of felt more for the owners. They had no way of generating ballpark revenue since the game was going to be pretty much an all TV event. That meant no ticket revenue, or parking revenue or concession revenue. Yet the players wanted to be paid their full salaries. A 60 game season was unilaterally implemented by Manfred, and the bad blood flowed from there.
I don't care what anybody says, there isn't an owner in all of sports who is losing money on their teams. The Mets lost money because they invested with a criminal. It wasn't because they weren't making any money, that's bull.
These guys are billionaires many times over. I know that my team's owner is by far the wealthiest, but even the Pirates and Marlins owners aren't going broke anytime soon. Even with the lost revenue from 2020, they're still very much in the black. I have no sympathy for them whatsoever.
But it's tough for me to muster up much sympathy for the players either. A few years ago, I was in a Ranger Fan Facebook group, run by I must admit, a fundamentally decent man. I had never met him, but he really was class all the way. The day after the Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs in a series I felt they should have won, this guy addressed all of us in the group, saying something to the effect that as bad as we felt as fans, the players felt 10 times worse, and they we as fans should cut them all some slack.
I called bollocks on that, and pointed out to this gentleman that the Rangers were paid handsomely for their services, and that they should feel bad that they came up short. Of course some people in the group groaned that I was "that a$$hole" and the answer is yes. Yes I am.
I realize that it's not that cut and dry, but again, it's hard to feel sympathy for either side here. I also remember back in 2011, I had been laid off and was looking for a job, when Santonio Holmes of the Jets signed a ridiculous contract. The back cover of the Daily News showed him guzzling Cristal right out of the bottle. Big a Jet fan as I am, happy as I was to have him back (which turned out to be a mistake BTW) I also thought "This dude is drinking $600 bottles of champagne while I'm trying to make ends meet."
Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that if/when these two groups of jacka$$es finally come to an agreement, that I'm going to boycott. That would be a waste of ink. I know damn well, I'll be sitting in front of the TV come summer and watching, especially if (fingers crossed) the Mets are in contention. But I can't speak for the people who are our kids age, who are into other sports or other activities, who didn't have the sheer joy of watching baseball back in the 70's and 80's. Those kids may NOT come back, if they were even there in the first place. That to me is where Manfred and the rest of them have failed big time. And while they are deciding how to divide this huge pie of theirs, they better address that issue too, or else sooner than later, there won't be a pie to divide.
WANTED
FOR BREAKING AND ENTERING- Hank the Tank
I wanted to write about this last week....
It had been believed that a 500 lb black bear had been roaming the streets of South Lake Tahoe, CA, going into to people's houses for food. The bear was given the nickname Hank the Tank by the locals.
According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, in a February blogpost, Hank was responsible for extensive damage on 33 properties and had forcibly entered 27 homes.
To get Hank out of one house according to CNN.com, officials banged on the exterior of the house till he left through the back door. I guess Sarah Palin was too busy canoodling with Ron Duguay to help these poor people out.
Indeed, there were some calls to have Animal Control come and put one square between Hank's eyes. This of course got all the animal rights activists up in arms. In Hank's defense, there were no reports of Hank harming any humans or pets, seems like he's content to raid your fridge and go through your garbage, and you know what the old saying is, "One man's trash is another bear's treasure."
But as it turns out in updated reports, Hank is not just one bear as originally thought, but thanks to DNA evidence (don't ask) Hank is actually a 3 bear battalion.
Now, instead of knocking off the bears, the plan is to trap them and send them back to a habitat far enough away from people so that they learn to forage for food on their own, without going in and stealing the leftover meatloaf dad was taking in for lunch tomorrow.
I went to visit some of Tara's family up in Northern Connecticut over the summer, and apparently in the neighborhood I was visiting bear sightings aren't uncommon. I was told the secret is to act calm, and even (I kid you not) talk to the bear as if he's your next door neighbor, ask him how the wife and kids are doing. The calmer you are, the less likely it is you'll be the bear's dinner. More likely they'll just go through your garbage and stuff.
Bears in California and Connecticut? Alligators in Florida? Snakes in Arizona? Thanks, I think I'll just stay here in NY. At least the rats leave you alone.
Rockaway had it’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, Sunnyside/Woodside had theirs on Sunday. Thank God we are getting back to normal.
Hope everyone is hanging in there.
Stay Safe
and Have a Great Week
