Weekly Mail August 14, 2022

 

Hi Folks:

So this will be our season finale, as Weekly Mail will take the rest of the summer off. We'll have our annual special on Sunday, September 11, then one week later, we'll get back into it. It's been a good summer so far I have to say. Haven't had as much time off as I'd like, but the days I have been off have been relaxing and enjoyable. Here's hoping we can all relax and enjoy the next couple weeks. 

But first, onto the news of the week...

POLITICS: It Never Ends with this guy...

Whenever I see someone saying something bad about our former President, Captain Orange, there is usually a couple of people who always ask, "Why do you keep bringing up Trump? Perhaps it's because the guy we have now is so bad, that you feel the need to disparage the former guy?" That's not a direct quote, trust me, the back and forth is usually a lot more crass, but that's the gist of it. 

A couple of friends of mine have running discussions on Facebook, usually after testimony during the 1/6 commission hearings, or like this week after the news of the FBI raiding Mar-a-Lago looking for classified documents that Orange was supposed to turn over to the National Archives, but instead took with him to Florida. Inevitably, the discussions turn to the allegedly poor job President Biden is doing. You can set your watch by it actually. 

To me it's two separate discussions. They ask "Why are we still talking about Trump?" 

Trust me, I don't want to talk about him. I have a good friend on FB who refuses to even mention his name, just refers to him as "the former president", when he reports on Trump's all too frequent transgressions. I wish I could do that, actually I wish he would just go away, stay down in Mar-a-Lago, play golf and eat McDonalds to his heart's content. 

But there's this nagging issue of his having tried to forcibly stop the results of the 2020 election from being certified by Congress by sending an angry mob to stage a coup at the US Capitol, with some looking to kill the VP and the Speaker of the House, only the 2nd and 3rd in line to the Presidency, no biggie. 

Also, I find that the folks who scream "Why are we still talking about Trump?" the loudest are the ones who also scream "I can't wait for him to run against Biden in 2024!" Well, seems like you just answered your own question there pal! If you don't want us to talk about him, don't wish for him to run. As long as he keeps teasing the fact that he wants to run again, he's fair game.

But this latest issue, the issue of his having taken classified documents, I mean I don't know about you, but I 'm starting to wonder if there are any rules, laws or protocols left for him to break. I mean I think he's about broken them all. 

This latest breach of protocol (and that's being kind) is a whopper, especially if the reports are true that amongst the materials recovered in the raids were top secret nuclear documents. And while nobody has come on record to say that this is the case, Trump and his minions are making themselves look more guilty by their actions. First saying there were no documents, to the documents were declassified, to the documents were planted by the FBI. (The idiot congresswoman from Georgia's 14th district, whose name I will not mention, is a proponent of that cockamamie theory) 

Look, I believe the man should be locked up and put away forever for what transpired on January 6, 2021. He still may be. In some ways anything else is almost immaterial. It's not, but sometimes it feels that way. You want to know why I still talk about Donald Trump and not about Joe Biden? Because economies go up and down, so does inflation, so do gas prices. We've survived recessions, we've survived depressions. Shit, we've survived wars, and terrorist attacks. 

Democracy is supposed to be the one constant we have in this country.  The one thing we have to defend at all costs. That goes, we're done. We don't survive that, our nation doesn't survive that. Donald Trump still thinks he won in 2020, he still is surrounded by sycophants who tell him that. If he has those nuclear documents, what do you think he wants to do with them? 

Ask yourself that. 

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OBITUARIES

Olivia Newton-John- I'm not sure it's because I'm getting older, or if it just seems like people are living longer, but Olivia Newton-John's passing at 73 just seemed like someone who died a lot younger. 

I'm not saying 73 is old, not by a long shot, but in Hollywood especially, it seems like there was a time when someone famous who lived into their 70's was considered a good life. OLJ, though, that just felt like the kick in the gut you get when someone dies well before that. 

What's funny is that she had been around for so long. She already had a bunch of number 1 singles on the billboard charts when she was tapped to play Sandy in the film version of Grease, a role she played to perfection. 

And I know there are people who were radio DJ's back in the early 80's who probably vowed to never again play Olivia Newton-John's, Physical, but try listening to it now and if you can get it out of your brain within 24 hours, you have accomplished something. That song was at the top of the charts for 10 weeks, the same year, Kim Carnes, Bette Davis Eyes, and Lionel Richie-Diana Ross's Endless Love had long reigns atop the Billboard Charts.  

Multitalented, unbelievably beautiful and by all accounts, a super nice woman. A sad day for all of us when she passed this week. 

Anne Heche- This is just a sad story on multiple levels. She was a really good actress, I thought she was great in Donnie Brasco and six Days and Seven Nights, plus the plethora of TV shows she was on. So much talent, but so many demons. It appears it was these demons that were responsible in large part for the car crash that killed her last week. And if dying at 73 is too young, dying at 53 is even more tragic.  Technically, Heche is still on life support, as they are looking to see if any of her organs can be donated. That would be something, if she could help someone after dying. Hopefully that would be a comfort to her family. 

Two other people in the music world passed as well. Lamont Dosier, of the legendary songwriting team of Holland/Dosier/Holland, and Judith Durham of the Seekers. 

So sad. 

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And did everyone see what happened to poor Salman Rushdie on Friday? Some lunatic attacked him as he was about to give a talk in Upstate NY. I don't mean to make light of this, but I didn't think he was still on the jihad hit list. I mean, the Satanic Verses was over 30 years ago right? 

Thankfully they caught the nutcase who attacked him, and Rushdie sounds like he's in bad shape, as of this writing, he's on a ventilator and may have lost an eye. Just horrible.

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Time to lighten it up a bit....

BASEBALL- Let's Go Mets

As I was driving home from work on Friday, I heard the all too familiar voice of Joe Beningo back on the FAN, with his old co-host Evan Roberts. I was sorry to see Joe B go a couple years ago, and to be honest, I can only take small doses of Carton and Roberts. But something funny happened as I was listening to him on Friday.

He was talking about the Mets, and he was saying "Look bro, I'm telling ya, if the Mets don't win the World Series this year, it's a failure, it's a disappointment."  Now, am I going to sit here and tell you that I won't be upset if the Mets don't win it all this year? No, you all know me better than that.

But I will say this... This has been an absolute joy of a season, and not just because they are winning. They've had a few come from behind victories that had to be seen to be believed. The one they had in St. Louis was particularly fun. Of course, the highlight for me was the no-hitter at Citi Field against the Phillies that Timmy and I saw live.  They've beaten the Yankees, and have for the mot part handled the Braves. 

Anytime I have gotten frustrated with the Mets lately, like for example at the trade deadline when they didn't get the lefty reliver I wanted, I think back to November of last year, a couple weeks before Thanksgiving. Remember, they couldn't get anyone who wanted to work in the Mets front office. Nobody wanted to be the GM. This was coming off a year where the Braves had just won the World Series. I remember how frustrating it was being a fan at that point. 

Now? We have a GM who knows what he's doing, a manager who demands his team play solid fundamental baseball and is not afraid to lay down a bunt or steal a base, and most importantly, a team who is over 30 games north of .500. Last November, I couldn't have imagined any of this. 

I'm just going to try and enjoy this ride, it has been a blast so far. I'll deal with October when it comes. For now, it's just fun watching them play.  They are 35 games over .500 and just took 2 out of 3 from the Phillies. There’s not much to complain about. 

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Ok that’s all we got. As always 

Stay Safe

and Enjoy the Rest of the Summer. 

Weekly Mail returns in September 

Weely Mail August 7, 2022

 

Hey There:

                             Number 49 (Ron Guidry)

First of all, a big thank you to all of you who reached out to wish me a Happy Birthday on Friday. The countdown has now begun to a half-century of Wild Bill. Pretty unbelievable.  I also always feel like the summer, which always seems to go by a little faster than the rest of the year, really starts to fly here in August. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way, especially if you're a teacher, (or a student) So hopefully, we can really enjoy this last month of summer. 

We start off with some obituaries...

Bill Russell- Considered by many to be the greatest winner in American sports history. You'll get no argument from this corner. He led the University of San Francisco to 2 NCAA Championships, won an Olympic Gold Medal for the US Men's basketball team in 1956, and then won 11 NBA Championships in 13 seasons for the Celtics, the last two as a player/coach, becoming the first African American coach in a major professional sport in the US. 

He accomplished all his professional success in a city that at the time wasn't known for it's racial tolerance. He once told Bill Simmons in an interview for ESPN that the Celtics conducted a survey about how to improve their attendance. Their Boston Garden co-tennants, the Bruins regularly sold out their games, even in the pre-Bobby Orr days, while the perennial champion Celtics did not. According to Russell, 50% of the respondents said that the problem with the Celtics was that they had too many black players. That's the kind of hostility this man not only had to face, but that he obviously succeeded in. 

Russell had a reputation as somewhat surly, which given what he faced in his life was understandable, but I remember when he was in the studio for the NBA on NBC and I actually thought he was great. Laid back, cracking jokes, with that cackling laugh that he had. And of course he knew his stuff. 

A couple of years ago, right before the Nathan’s 4th of July hot dog contest, ESPN put up a list of all time championship winners in North American sports. Yogi Berra in baseball, Henri Richard in hockey, Tom Brady in football, Serena Williams in tennis. And of course, Bill Russell in basketball. The most decorated of them all. 

Nichelle Nichols- Lt. Nyota Uhura from Star Trek. And one of the first African-American women to play a major role in a television series. 

Nichols was already a successful singer and Broadway stage performer when she landed the role that would define her career. 

And of all the stories I've read about her this week, this one is my favorite.... She had gotten an offer to return to Broadway, and since that's where she felt most comfortable, she handed in her resignation letter from Star Trek to producer Gene Roddenberry. He urged Nichols to take the weekend to think about it, but it seemed her mind was already made up. 

That weekend, she attended NAACP banquet, and was told that a fan wanted to meet her. She agreed, but saw that Martin Luther King was coming over, so she said she would meet the fan later on. Turns out Dr. King was the fan that was looking to meet her, and also urge her not to leave the series. He told Nichols that because of her "for the first time we will be seen as we should everyday. As beautiful intellegent quality people, who can sing, dance and even go into space."  He told her if she left the show, the role could be filled by anyone, including an alien. So she decided to rescind her resignation. And even though the show didn't last much longer on network TV, the rest as they say is history. It became one of the biggest TV/Film franchises of all time even to this day. And Nichols place in history as an TV pioneer is etched in stone. 

Vin Scully- A few years ago I was away on an overnight trip. The Mets were playing the Dodgers out in Los Angeles. The only way I could get the game was on the SiriusXM app. And you could only get the home team’s announcers. 

So that meant that I got to hear Vin Scully for the first time in a long time. As a kid, listening to him call the NBC game of the week every Saturday afternoon, I would ask my father “Why does he always say ‘If you’re wondering…. what if I’m not wondering?” I mean don’t get me wrong I liked Scully enough, but I always found that a little bit annoying. 

But hearing him again that night calling that Dodgers-Mets game was such a joy and a treat. When NBC lost their baseball contract after the 1989 season, we also lost the privilege of listening to the greatest baseball play-by-play man in history. 

One of the calls that’s been played over and over again since Scully‘s passing last week was the call he made of Mookie Wilson’s ground ball through the legs of Bill Buckner in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. I have another favorite moment from that same series involving Vin Scully and his color man Joe Garagiola. 

In Game 7, Davey Johnson sent relief pitcher Jesse Orosco up to hit in the 8th inning. Garagiola,  like almost anybody else who followed baseball, assumed Orosco was gonna lay down a bunt. “You can bet the house Orosco’s gonna bunt here” 

When Orosco swung away and got an RBI single, Scully said “Well Joe, you just lost your house.” 

Classic.

And when I was listening to him call that game against the Mets a few years back, he was talking about Nelson Figueroa, a pitcher for the Mets that year. “And if your looking for someone to fix something in your house, Nelson Figueroa might be your guy. Apparently he is very handy.” I couldn’t believe how good it was to hear him call a baseball game. 

He called Dodger games for 67 years. Imagine having the same job for that amount of time?  To put it perspective, the guy who took over after Scully retired in 2016, would have to call Dodger games all the way til 2083. 

Crazy

RIP to all 3 pioneers. 

BASEBALL: What a weekend!

So on Tuesday, I was all set to come on here and discuss what a horrible trade deadline the Mets had. All the previous week I saw the moves they were making and wondered what the hell, but was assured by the so called experts that a big move was coming. Surely we’d get another catcher, or more importantly, some left handed bullpen help. Neither of those things materialized. What made it worse, the night after the deadline passed, was Jacob deGrom’s season debut, and he was done in by a leaky bullpen. 

But all that has been rendered irrelevant, at least for now. 

For the Mets took 4 out of 5 from the 2nd place Braves this weekend, including a classic game Sunday afternoon, a game us Met fans all hoped and prayed we’d see at some point this year. deGrom carrying a perfect game into the 6th inning, our bullpen somehow holding up till we got to our lights out closer Edwin Diaz. Throw in some clutch hitting, smart base running and yeah even a little luck, and we got perhaps the most feel good win in a season full of them. 

And as much as I bitched about the deals the Mets did make, so far they have all come up roses. The three bats they got, Daniel Vogelbach, a Hoss Cartwright look-a-like from the Pirates, Tyler Naquin an outfielder from the Reds, and Darin Ruf, an OF/1B from the Giants, have all contributed to wins last week. The relief pitcher they got from the Cubs has been a bit shaky, but it’s been hard to complain about anything happening in Flushing right now.

The Yankees had a rough weekend in St.Louis, though I think they will get back on track soon. I’m not going to lie though, I found their trading away Jordan Montgomery to the aforementioned Cardinals to be a head scratcher. If any Yankee fans want to weigh in on this, I’m all ears. All the ones I’ve spoken to didn’t understand the point of it either. Hopefully the guy they got from the Royals, Andrew Benintendi, turns into a solid pickup. 

Again thank you for all the birthday shout-outs.

Season Finale next week

Stay Safe,

and Have a Great Week