Weekly Mail October 23, 2022

 

Hey everyone:

I hope you all got to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather we had on Friday and Saturday. Sunday was a washout, but nonetheless.

My sisters and some of their crew went out to Notre Dame this weekend to visit some friends and catch the Fighting Irish vs UNLV. The weather in South Bend was even better than the weather here in NY, and the weather here was spectacular. Tim volunteered at the Fall Festival where he goes to summer camp and they had the perfect day for it. 

It was also a nice late afternoon for a playoff game. Again, it would have been great if it were my Mets (yeah I'm still hurting from that) but the Yanks were playing in Da Bronx.

It didn't go well. Let's start there.... 

BASEBALL: Yanks on the brink...

As we go to press tonight, the Yanks are waiting out a rain delay, facing down the gauntlet of a 3-0 deficit in the ALCS. To me their chance to steal a game in Houston was Wednesday night, still riding high from eliminating the Guardians on Tuesday. Justin Verlander was too much for them. If they had beaten Cleveland in 3, and gotten a little more cooperation from Mother Nature, they may have been able t set their pitching up better against the Astros. 

But pitching hasn't been the issue here. Garritt Cole pitched well on Saturday, I'm not sure I would have taken him out when they did, and I'm positive Cole wasn't ready to hand the ball over either. They just didn't hit. And the boo-birds for Aaron Judge? I mean, it's easy for me to sit here and say "How can you boo a guy who hit 62 home runs for you?" but he needs to be hitting them now against Houston. He didn't even hit a single on Saturday night. I'd be besides myself too.  

Now it's do or die tonight. By the time some of you are reading this, the season maybe over, or they live to fight another day. 

The Phillies are the National League Champs. I can’t believe I just typed that sentence. 

Back to the Yanks-Guardians series for a minute.... There were a few complaints about he TBS broadcasting team for the ALDS, namely Bob Costas, considered by many (myself included) to be one of the great sports broadcasters of his generation. 

Mike Francesa (of all people) was one of the loudest critics of Costas, screaming "We don't need a history lesson with every pitch". More than one person I know pointed out how rich it is for Francesa saying that someone talks to much, but in defense of Sitting Bull, his job is to yak. Costas is to call the game. 

I thought Costas was fine, and he had a few good lines. If I had any criticisms, it was that he didn't mesh well with his color guy, Met broadcaster Ron Darling. I chalk that up to my being used to hearing Darling with Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez. But Darling is one of the best in the business and Costas needed to take better advantage of that. 

Again, I may not be the most unbiased judge here. One thing about Costas, he was always honest, even if he was being critical of the sport or the network that was covering said sport. One time hosting NBC's NFL pregame show, he said of a game about to be broadcast on NBC, "I'm not going to lie to you folks, this one might be hard to watch." I'm sure that wasn't the only time he refused to hype up a game that couldn't be hyped. I always appreciated that. I still enjoy listening to him, for whatever that's worth. 

FOOTBALL: Jets, Giants roll on

Got to see some of the Giants win vs the Jags, and one guy I’m really happy for is Saquon Barkley. 

The Giants took him with the number two pick in the 2018 draft. He’s had some problems with injuries, but now that he’s healthy he has been playing like the number 2 pick. He had a couple of really nice runs in the fourth quarter on Sunday. I felt like the Giants are starting to catch some flack for having made him such a high choice but now it looks like he’s finally paying off.

The Jets also won today, but it was an ugly win. I realize that after the last few years complaining about an ugly win might come off as unnecessarily picky.

But they committed a shit ton of penalties, had trouble moving the ball down the field, And worst of all lost Breece Hall, arguably their best player this year, to a knee injury. 

Zach Wilson once again didn’t put up any gaudy numbers. 

 I happened upon an interview the Post did with former Jet QB Mark Sanchez. Sanchez was paralleling his career with that of the current QB

“If that’s the formula for your team and it was for us in 2009 when at times the team had to win in spite of me, well then that is the formula,” Sanchez said. “You almost have to protect the young guys from themselves at times. At the same time, you want them to grow. There is a very fine line that you have to walk and kind of tightrope of, OK, this is our formula for winning, but we also want to develop our quarterback and really make sure he is a situational master so when it’s time to cut it loose and chuck the ball around it’s not so foreign to him because all we do is run the ball.”

Wilson only threw the ball 18 times for 110 yards against the Packers, but threw no picks. He went 16-26 today, but again did not turn over the ball.  Still,  I can see where Sanchez is coming from. 

However, the one thing Wilson has going for him is that he has a coach and GM who know what they are doing. I loved Rex Ryan's bravado, but he was more a defensive guy who wanted to recreate his father's famous 46 defense with the 1985 Bears, considered one of the best of all time. 

To me the beginning of the end of the Rex Ryan/Mark Sanchez era was right after the end of the 2011 NFL lockout. Rex desperately wanted to sign Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, and team him with Darrelle Revis to have two lockdown corners. While they were negotiating (unsuccessfully as it would turn out) with Asomugha, Brad Smith signed with the Bills, Jerricho Cotchery signed with the Steelers, and Braylon Edwards signed with the Niners. The Jets signed Plaxico Burress, but Sanchez had chemistry with those other guys and Smith in particular said he was willing to re-sign with the Jets, but never received an offer. 

Jet GM Joe Douglas has built winning teams before, and Saleh is proving to be a solid coach on both sides of the ball. Wilson's got the arm and the legs and needs to keep honing those weapons, and I think he will. With Breece Hall possibly being out for significant time, he’s not going to have a choice. 

SCIENCE: Ugly Ants-

A Lithuanian photographer submitted a terrifying photo to the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition, which "seeks to recognize excellence in photography through the microscope." 

 Eugenijus Kavaliauskas the photographer who took the picture of the ant magnified 5 times under the microscope, did not win the competition, possibly because he scared the shit out of the judges. I mean, this thing looks like the beast that went after Signorney Weaver in Aliens. The winners were two Swiss photographers who captured a gecko's front paw in fluorescent light. 

If you want to see the ant monster and the winning photo, click here.

Otherwise here are the Gecko and the Ant-Man

  

Probably not going to post next week. Unless there is something earth shattering. 

Good luck Yanks (you’re gonna need it)

Everyone else Stay Safe

and Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail October 16, 2022

 

Hi:

Hope all is well as we sail through the halfway point of October. Another beautiful weather weekend. 

I had seen something posted on Facebook the other day suggesting that us adults not give any older kids any guff about trick or treating, since the alternative might be something more unsavory. Back in my day, that was egging and creaming, throwing eggs and spraying shaving cream on people. I always thought that was stupid and I never did it. 

But I also suggested that 10 years ago, many of our kids weren’t able to trick or treat in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. And I had it pointed out that COVID-19 caused a bunch of kids to miss out two years ago. So, yeah, if you see some teenagers dressing up and trick or treating, just give ‘em some candy. 

I know we’re a couple of weeks away from Halloween, but it’s important to plan ahead. Plus I’m having a hard time coming up with things to write about TBH. 

So let’s start with a book review…

Like a Rolling Stone: A Memoir

By: Jann S. Wenner 

 I was ambivalent about reading this memoir. As much I respected Wenner for what he did with Rolling Stone, I wasn't much interested in him personally. But as I thought back to everything Rolling Stone had covered in it's 55 years of existence, and I figured if nothing else, those stories would keep me interested for a bit. 

And for the most part they did. 

He's pretty much met anybody who is anybody in show biz or politics.  Interviewed many of them too.  

The problem I had with the book is that after a while, it seems more about name dropping and showing off than it is about building and running the magazine. Bruce and Patti, Mick, Keith, John and Yoko, Bob (Dylan) Pauls...McCartney (who he liked, but also made it clear he was a Lennon man) and Simon (who he didn't like, loved his music but thought he was a$$hole as a person*) 

Wenner also bragged about all the property he owned, all the vacations he took, (and with who) his plane, his motorcycles etc... and then at one point had the audacity to write this....

David (Geffen) had a way of making you feel bad because you weren't as rich as he was..

You don't say? 

And here's some meat for you Right Wingers out there... Wenner bragged about how he pushed Rolling Stone's reporters to fight for environmental issues. He bragged how much he helped Al (Gore) during his 2000 Presidential Campaign. Probably helped him while flying around on his private plane or sailing on his ocean polluting yacht. 

Maybe I'm being harsh on him, I mean I did read the whole book, there was never a time where I was like "That's it, I can't deal with this dude anymore" I mean I started reading it because I wanted to hear about the people he met, and now here I am complaining about that. I don't know, he just came off more bragging than story telling at times. 

If you dig rock and roll and those who made rock and roll go, you'll get a kick out of some of it. Maybe I was just having a bad week and not in the best frame of mind to enjoy this. I just got the feeling after a while that I was sitting at a bar next to some annoying old man recounting his golden days of yesteryear. Sort of cross between Forrest Gump sitting at that bus stop in Savannah and Al Bundy talking about his 4 TD day for Polk High. 

2.5 Auggies. 

And why you may ask, was I having such a bad week? Well, since you asked....

BASEBALL PLAYOFFS:

So the Rangers opened their season at the Garden on Tuesday night with a win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. "Oh you must be happy the Rangers won!" Tara said as I was shutting off the TV. 

Not really. I mean I needed the Rangers to beat Tampa about 4 months ago. Sure a win on Opening Night is always nice. Let's call it bittersweet. 

Because what I should have been doing was getting ready to watch the Mets take on the Dodgers in Los Angeles. The fact that wasn't happening really was burning me. And probably will for a while.

In the meantime, we've had a couple of developments in these divisional series (of which I have to admit I haven't watched that much of)

1) The Phillies did our fair nation a favor on Saturday afternoon and sent the Braves packing for the winter. I was out to dinner Friday night with Tara and Tim and they had the game on a big screen TV. The Phillies were hitting Brave pitcher Spenser Strider all over Citizen's Bank Ballpark Watching Strider walk off the mound did my heart good. The only down side of all this is it's the Phillies moving on. They're not that much lower on the list of teams I can't stand than the Braves are. Beggars can't be choosers I guess. 

2) The Astros and Mariners played a classic on Saturday. 17 innings of scoreless baseball only to have Astro Jeremy Pena hit a solo homer in the top of the 18th to essentially win it. Mike Vaccaro of the Post posed this question to us Mets fans "Would you have rather had the season end for the Mets the way it did, or be out of it by the beginniong of September like in 2021. The answer to that is obvious. But I will say this, I'm not quite sure I would trade places with a Mariners fans right about now. getting one hit last Sunday was awful....how about 18 freakin scoreless innings? Imagine sitting through that shit? I'd be too emotionally exhausted to write. 

3) The Yankees managed to stay alive Sunday night thanks to an effective Gerrit Cole. Funny story: on Saturday night I was watching the 9th inning at the Post on one of the TV’s with the sound off. I actually thought there were two outs when Guardians DH Josh Naylor struck out, and I figured the game was over and the Yanks had won. Didn’t realize till I got on the train that Cleveland had one more out to play with and they they won the game in the next at bat. But in any event, Cole earned his $$$ on Sunday night, and the Bombers live to fight for another night, this time at the Stadium. 

4) And in the most unbelievable series, the 111 win Dodgers were sent packing by the Padres, who sent us packing last weekend. The Dodgers once again proving once and for all that they are the biggest choke artists in baseball, if not all of professional sports. Their sole World title in this era was “achieved” after the 60 game COVID season in 2020. Otherwise, they have fallen short every time. Since 2013, they have won the NL West every year (save for last year, where they won 106 games and finsished one game behind the Giants) In those 10 seasons, they have lost the World Series twice, lost the NLCS 3 times, and lost the NLDS 4 times. Since 2017, they have won over 100 games 4 times, and again the only WS title was after the COVID season.  I know there’s an argument to be made that just getting to the LCS and World Series is an accomplishment, especially since the team I root for has done neither lately. 

But there is nothing worse than falling short of expectations. The Mets, Braves and Dodgers did that this year. The Dodgers have done that a lot lately. It’s almost become their M.O. 

FOOTBALL: Jets, Giants keep rolling…

They’re doing it to us again folks. They’re setting us up. Putting us on a proverbial tee, getting ready to smack us into the lake again, aren’t they?

The team I watched Sunday afternoon on the soggy tundra of Lambeau Field, was that supposed to be our Jets? I know the numbers Zach Wilson put up weren’t pretty, but he also didn’t throw any picks, nor was he running for his life on every snap. And because the line was doing it’s job, our running backs were able to run for more than a yard or two. And the defense, besides a few dumbass penalties, held the obnoxious Aaron Rodgers in check. 

                                     Cheese Sauce

But of course I can’t help but feel like they’re setting me up again. 

The Giants are the same way. They are 5-1, and just beat a really good Baltimore Ravens team. They can’t possibly be this good can they? Have they finally gotten it right at head coach and GM? I haven’t gotten to see the Giants that much because they have been playing the same time as the Jets, but 5-1 is hard to argue with. I have to say they have both been a pleasant surprise. 

And hopefully not a cruel mirage. 

Good luck to my Yankee fan friends and family tonight.  At least the ones who don’t bust my chops too much. 

Everyone else Stay Safe

and Have a Great Week

*And according to a few people I know who have met him, he truly is an obnoxious a$$hole. 

2022 Mets Recap

 

Sometime in August, Joe Beningo came back to the FAN to do a couple of shows in his old time slot. 

And he hadn’t changed a bit. He was still complaining about everything. And he also said that nothing less than a World Championship for the Mets would be a failure in his eyes.

I knew where he was coming from, I’ve done as much kvetching about the Mets as he has (at a 100% discount I might add).

But I thought maybe he was overreacting a tad. I thought back to the combined no-hitter in April that Timmy got to see live. I thought about the game against the Phillies when they were down 7-1 in the 9th and came back to win. There was a game in St.Louis where they scored 5 in the top of the 9th to win. Even a couple of their losses, they showed some heart. That game in San Francisco where they were 7 runs down, yet came back to send it to extra innings. I thought this team had heart. I thought they had guts. 

Well, you saw what happened last night.

You saw what happened in September. 

The bottom line is that if it weren’t for the expanded playoff format, this would have been pretty much the same choke job the Mets had in 2007 and 2008. A division lead that they pissed away.

Up until last night, I supported the company line..No the team didn’t collapse, the Braves just played otherworldly. The Mets played well, the Braves played better. It’s true to an extent.

But it’s also true that they had a cream puff schedule in September and didn’t take advantage of it. Swept by the Cubs, lost 2 out of 3 to the Nationals. Lost a game to the A’s where they scored 3 quick runs in the first and had Jacob deGrom going. Lost one to the Pirates, a couple to the Marlins, you see where I’m going with this? 

Getting swept by the Braves was obviously the death knell for these guys. I simply hoped that they would shake that off, and take advantage of the gift they had been given by the lords of baseball. I mean as a fan of the team, it stung that we were in 1st place pretty much from the gate, only to lose it at the wire. And the only way to get that taste out of our mouths was to take care of business against a good but not great San Diego Padres team.

But that didn’t happen.

Instead they played small when they needed to play big. They played scared instead of playing angry. They folded when they should have been strong. 

They choked.

Max Scherzer, he of the $43 million contract, spit the bit twice. Once against the Braves, once against the Padres. Same with Chris Bassitt. We’re stuck with Scherzer, but Bassitt’s a free agent. Nice knowing ya kid. Adios!

If I’m Steve Cohen I let deGrom know that if he does indeed opt out as he says he is, that he’s not welcome back here either. He has spent the better part of the last two seasons on the injured list. He came back in August, looked like his old self, and then he too went to the crapper in September. He pitched well against the Padres in Game 2, but he lost that aforementioned game against Oakland, and then again last week vs Atlanta. He pitched better vs the Braves, but still lost. He wants the money Scherzer’s got? Let someone else give it to him, then have to sweat it out hoping he doesn’t blow out his arm. Bye!

In hockey at or around the NHL trading deadline, the Rangers made a bunch of good moves. And while the Rangers were bounced from the playoffs, the guys they got at the deadline all contributed. Unfortunately, due to the NHL salary cap, they all ended up going elsewhere after the season ended.

I want all 4 of the guys the Mets got at the deadline gone from the roster by spring training. I don’t want any of them back. They ended up being what I thought they were at the time. Overrated.

Daniel Vogelbach was a one trick pony who couldn’t perform the trick he was hired to do (hit righty pitching) nearly enough. Same with Tyler Naquin. Darrin Ruf, who we traded JD Davis to get was the worst of all. That may go down as one of the worst trades in Mets history. (And that’s saying something) 

So you may be asking, who are you going to replace all these guys that you are getting rid of with? Easy! Let’s bring up all those gold star prospects we didn’t want to trade at the deadline for some real talent. 

I mean seriously, we have a catcher in James McCann who can barely stay healthy and when he does, can’t hit? Tomas Nido seems like a nice guy, but is consistently inconsistent. So why go out and get Wilson Contreras from the Cubs when you have that dynamic duo. And we knew way back when we needed lefty bullpen help, but again nothing doing. 

Meanwhile, the team that just sent us packing, the Padres went out and got Juan Soto and Josh Hader, a big bat and a reliever. Soto would have cost too much, but if Hader was available why weren’t we in on that?

That falls on GM Billy Eppler, and the only reason I’m not calling for him to be canned is that he did a real good job in the offseason under difficult circumstances. But he blew it at the trade deadline. He has to own that. 

When the Mets qualified for this watered down playoff format, someone (I heard it was Cohen himself) decided that there would be no champagne celebrations till they went further in the playoffs. I applaud that. THAT is forward thinking. Now, I want Cohen to make sure that there is no banner or plaque out on the outfield wall saying “Hey we made the playoffs in 2022.” The plaque out there for the 2016 play in game burns my ass every time I see it. The only thing this team needs to acknowledge is that they lost to a team they were 12 games better than in the regular season. At home, all three games at home. 

There is nothing to be proud of here. Nothing to celebrate. Don’t think about the no-hitter or the comeback wins in April and May. Don’t think about the 101 wins.

Think about how you blew it in September. Think about how you couldn’t win one game in Atlanta. Think about how you only managed one hit in an elimination game at home (first team in baseball history to pull that off according to the experts there at ESPN). 

Think about how you collapsed. How you choked. 

The season was a failure. Think about that. 

Weekly Mail October 9, 2022

 

Hi

It was one of those days on Saturday where walking through the city, I saw some folks wearing hats, gloves and scarves, and others walking around in t-shirts and shorts. I had a windbreaker and jeans, it certainly wasn't cold enough to have to bundle up, but it didn't feel like shorts weather either. Of course it seems like our kids have decided that anything short of a blizzard constitutes shorts weather. 

I know other parents have this issue because I see the social media posts, but getting Tim to put a sweatshirt on in the morning, forget a jacket, is a full time gig. I guess when we were younger we had our quirks, but I usually didn't think twice about putting a coat or jacket on when the weather started to cool off. When I drop Tim off at school, I see a bunch of kids going into the school in shorts and at most a long sleeve t-shirt. 

Interesting. 

Anyway, onto the week that was...

FISHING: And you thought they only cheated in baseball.....

On Tuesday, I heard them talking on the FAN about a couple of guys who were caught cheating during a fishing tournament. 

So full disclosure here: I know next to nothing about regular fishing, never mind competitive fishing. The one time I went out fishing on a boat was a couple days after my 26th birthday. The night before I had been out celebrating with the Ace at Donovan's and the next morning I had completely forgotten I had told Kevin Woods I would go out on his family's boat. 

I raced down to Rockaway and headed down with Woodsy, his parents, sister and future brother in law to the marina. The combination of the relative early hour, my previously night's/earlier that morning's consumption, and the rough seas*, and about the only thing I was good for was giving the fish some extra chum. 

That's the extent of my fishing experience. Jamesy and I had gone crabbing in the bay when we were kids, but casting a line? Nope. So bear with me as I explain what happened here. 

The Lake Erie Walleye Trail fishing tournament took place last Friday in Chagrin Falls, a suburb of Cleveland.  Jacob Runyan and Chase Cominsky were the two fishing teammates who had their walleye catch weighed by the official Jason Fischer (sometimes the headlines write themselves don't they?) 

Fischer the fisherman expert told CNN that walleye that size usually weigh in around 4 pounds, the ones entered for consideration by Cominsky and Runyan were over 7 pounds. 

To confirm his suspicions, Fischer cut open the fish where he discovered weights and fish fillets inside the fish. "We have weights in fish!" he bellowed 

Now this to me is where I can't help but laugh.

First of all, everyone else is wearing boots and Fischer is wearing slippers. Why I find that funny I don't know but I did. Next when Fischer discovered the weights and fillets, he looks at Runyan and channels he best Country Joe West impression and gives him the heave ho, like Runyan was arguing balls and strikes. 

Getting tossed from Fishing Tournament 

Now, not that I would ever do something as dastardly as this duo did, but let's say I had.... I would do one of two things either 1) I'd make like the guy from Casablanca and act like I had no idea how those weights got in there. I'm Shocked, SHOCKED! And for good measure, appalled.

The other thing I probably would have done is run.

 RUN!

I mean look at how fast those other guys closed in on him. He was probably smart not to run, lest he have a pack of angry midwestern alpha males chasing him down, and maybe I'm wrong to assume this, but I'm guessing being that this took place in red state Ohio, most of these dudes were packing heat as well.   

Now in one of the videos I saw, and I'm still trying to find it, I believe Fischer implores the other fishers (seewhatididthere?) "Do not touch either one of these guys" I mean I hadn't heard that many F-bombs on film since Goodfellas.** I give Fischer all the credit in the world for keeping those two nuts safe from bodily harm. That's almost a miracle in and of itself. 

Apparently, these guys have racked up almost $3 million in prize money. (This tournament alone was worth a cool $290,000 reportedly***) And now that's all up in the air. 

Crazy story. Here's the full video https://www.tiktok.com/@walleyemafia1/video/7149542351537442091?is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7149542351537442091

RIP: Bernard McGirk (1957-2022)

The self proclaimed bald headed stooge from the Imus in the Morning program and later the host of his own morning radio show, passed away this week from cancer just weeks short of his 65th birthday. 

In fact he wasn't a stooge at all, actually by all accounts he was the brains behind the Imus in the Morning operation. As the executive producer, he was in charge of booking guests and making sure the commercials ran when they did to keep the money rolling in. Even as Howard Stern trumped the I-Man in the ratings, it was Imus show that for years brought in the most money from advertising. Due in no small part to the guidance of McGirk. 

My favorite moments on the radio were him were his impersonations. He did a spot on Walt "Clyde" Frazier (masturbatin and procrastinatin over on the bench). He did both John Cardinal O'Connor, Edward Cardinal Egan and Timothy Cardinal Dolan with the same faux Irish brogue. (All 3 were of Irish decent but none of them had brogues in real life) And my personal favorite, and perhaps his most NSFW impression, former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin. Indeed that one was so controversial, that when Nagin was convicted of fraud and sent up the creek, WABC management told Imus, to his chagrin that they didn't want Bernie doing his Nagin impression.

This was very likely due to Imus and Bernard's most controversial moment.. the Rutgers Women's basketball team scandal. I'm not going to rehash it here like I did when Imus died. Imus in the Morning was ended on WFAN and all other CBS Radio stations and ended up 8 months later on WABC and eventually Fox Business Network. 

When Imus retired in April, 2018, Bernie and Sid Rosenberg took over the morning show. Bernie and Sid in the morning was entertaining, but to me much of the humor was gone. I could live with it being a topical show, but when it joined all the other shows on the station as Donald Trump radio, I had to tune out. 

And the shame of it is, despite the fact that he was a Trump apologist, I really did like him. I even got to meet him one day. 

He lived in Long Beach, but he worked out at the same gym I did in Oceanside. I met him in 2016, when he and Sid had the show on after Imus. I worked up the courage to introduce myself and tell him what a fan I was of his and he could not have been more gracious. At the time Sid was supporting Hillary Clinton, (he would eventually toe the company line and go full throttle for Trump) Bernie told me that since Sid didn't like Trump, he could start a Jews for Ted Cruz chapter here in NY.  

When Tara and I were leaving the gym, Bernie rolled down the window of his car and thanked me again for supporting his show with Sid. He introduced himself to Tara too. As much a gentleman off the air as he was a rascal on it. 

I was real sad when I saw he had passed. 

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

I'm going to do a separate blogpost on the Mets. That will post sometime late Monday. 

I'm not sure how I feel about this new playoff format yet, but what I can tell you is that if it means more afternoon ballgames then I'm all for that. How cool was it on Saturday to turn on the telly and see an outdoor afternoon baseball game in October? That it was the Guardians and the Rays wasn't important, what I dug about it was that it reminded me of the Saturday's of my youth. This Week in Baseball at 12 noon, the NBC pregame show at 12:30 and the Game of the Week at 1:00. (well 1:15 or so). Now the Game of the Week, (when its on) is usually at night and in late August and September when college football starts, it's on Thursday night. WTF? 

That aforementioned game in Cleveland BTW was a classic. 14.5 innings of scoreless baseball ended on a walk-off home run by Oscar Gonzalez. Now the Guardians play the Yankees in the ALDS. 

 

How bout them Giants and Jets! Giants kicking butt on two continents. The Jets blew out the Dolphins. 

Break em up!

Let’s Go Mets!

Stay safe

and Have a Great Week

*23 years later, it's still up for debate how rough the seas actually were. 

**According to multiple sources, it's actually another DeNiro/Pesci flick, Casino, that has more f-cks spoken. 

*** Another of too many examples where I tell myself that I'm in the wrong line of work. 

Weekly Mail October 2, 2022

 

Hey:

So we are now into October. School year is in full motion, summer now a distant memory. My wife keeps saying that "We need to put the Halloween stuff up." She's been saying this since Labor Day. 

I can't really blame her though, the stores have been stocking Halloween stuff since the end of August, which really pisses me off. Used to be you didn't see Halloween stuff till the first week of October, and Christmas stuff till the middle of November. Now Costco has Christmas trees next to their Halloween costumes and candy.

It's ridiculous. 

I'm sure there had to have been a study conducted somewhere that shoppers want to get an early start on their Halloween and Christmas shopping, and we live in a monkey see/monkey do world nowadays where no bad idea goes uncopied. And now here we are. 

I guess I should just get with the times, but I'm glad Tara and I held off on putting our Halloween decorations on the front door. 

On Friday night though, Tara and I went to one of her co-workers houses for a Hocus-Pocus party. 

Apparently the sequel to the 1993 Bette Midler/Sarah Jessica Parker flick came out on Disney plus on Friday, so Tara's friend and her hubby had a bunch of us over. You had the option of dressing up (Tara wore a witches hat) and thankfully you also had the option of going out back to the family's wood burning fire pit if you weren't up for the movie. I chose the fire pit option. 

The guys there were good men and fun to chat with. None of them were huge sports fans, so I had to take a gander at my phone every few minutes for updates on the Mets Braves game in Atlanta, and I was relying on one of the kids friends to keep me updated on Aaron Judge's status. 

We'll have more on that later, but first we have to talk about..

HURRICAINE IAN

Another year, another massive destructive storm. 

Hurricane Ian made landfall on the west coast of Florida this week. The pictures we saw on TV were devastating.  I've said that every year it seems like we have another storm of the century. This one looks like it may lay claim to the title. 

To say that I have had my issues with Florida governor Ron DeSantis would be an understatement. I hate how he handled the pandemic. How he handles things down there now will be interesting to see. Will he show his compassionate side? Will he look to work with the federal government or will he use this to pick another fight with the President and try to improve his street cred with the Republican party?  

I really hope he uses the skills he has to help his people and more importantly, to accept the help of others he would otherwise want to deal with, sort of like how Chris Christie worked with President Obama after Superstorm Sandy. 

It may sound corny and it also may be a whole lot of wishful thinking, but this country works best when it works together. This storm was something else, and to help those poor folks down there, we need to put the BS aside and help them out. 

YANKEES: JUDGE vs MARIS 

On Wednesday night in Toronto, Aaron Judge hit a home run, giving him 61 on the year and a share of the American League home run record with Roger Maris, and as far as I'm concerned, a share of the all time single season HR record as well. 

I saw a couple of interesting takes this week. One was from Deadspin.com, a website I often read and even more often find myself disagreeing with. Well, not so much that I disagree with them, often times, like in the case of taxpayer funded stadiums, steroids, and race relations, I agree with them. They just often come off as self sanctimonious* whether I agree with them or not.

The article I read this week was a perfect example of this. It basically took Roger Maris Jr. to task for suggesting that in his mind, Judge is now the true single season record holder, not Barry Bonds, or before him, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. The writer for Deadspin took pains to point out that Maris Jr. along with the rest of Roger Sr. kids and widow, backed McGwire in 1998. Indeed, they were there at Busch Stadium upfront and center, when McGwire became the first player to hit 62 homers in a season. After McGwire hugged his teammates, his young son, and Sammy Sosa, himself sitting at 58 homers that night, he made his way over to the stands to hug the Maris family. At the press conference after the game, he told the media that he told Maris kids that he got to "touch Roger's bat, that he used to hit number 61. And now my bat will lie next to his and I'm damn proud of that" 

                     Aaron Judge and Roger Maris Jr.

And now the Deadspin writer Eric Blum accuses Roger Maris Jr. of "whitewashing history" acting as if 1998 never happened. Shaming the Maris' for supporting McGwire in 1998. 

That's bogus.

I didn't want McGwire, or Ken Griffey Jr. to break the record. (It was Griffey and not Sosa who was originally thought to be the favorite with McGwire to break the record) I had heard the stories of what Maris had gone through in 1961, even before the classic Billy Crystal movie came out. 

My dad was always a Mantle guy. My Mom? She loved Roger Maris. I remember her being visibly upset when they announced during an ABC News brief (remember those?) one night in 1985 that Maris had passed away of cancer at age 53. "I always liked him" she said to me that night. She's not a huge baseball fan, so when she likes a player, I always figured he had to be all right.  

But as the season wore on and it became clear that either McGwire or Sosa or both were going to break the record, I started warming to the idea of them having it. Both had positive attitudes, both seemed to respect each other, and most importantly both took the time to get to know Maris' family and to learn about the man whose record they were chasing. 

I was in Ireland when they found the bottle of andro in McGwire's locker at Shea Stadium. WM co-editor Razor Ray McGarvey's dad was over there and tried to explain to me what was going on. I found a day old copy of USA Today (AKA McNewspaper as we Posties call it) somewhere in Dublin that had an article about it, and I'm not gonna lie, I didn't give it much thought. 

Which leads me to another thing I came across on social media. 

Jeff Pearlman as readers of this post know is my favorite author and I will be reading and reviewing his next book The Last Folk Hero about Bo Jackson. 

He tweeted a video of McGwire paying tribute to Roger Maris the night he hit number 62, and wondered aloud: 

"When Mark McGwire was spewing this bullshit in 1998 did he convince himself of his own authebnticity? Wast there ANY guilt over taking away something so precious and hard earned from the Maris family? Over cheating? Or we he just an asshole? A callous one? " 

Listen, I could be totally naïve on this, but no I don't think McGwire is a callous asshole. Yeah, he cheated and no I don't think he deserves the record. I'm even less convinced than I was they he and Sosa saved baseball in 1998. But that being said, I do believe he cared about the Maris family, I still believe his emotion was genuine, even if his results weren't. I still think he has a heart. 

Barry Bonds to me is the callous asshole who ruined everything. He utter contempt for the fans, the media, and most of his fellow ballplayers, teammates or otherwise, is what shined the steroids spotlight on all this. Nobody wanted this malcontent to be the face of baseball. Am I being a hypocrite? Possibly. A racist? That's horse$hit. I would have had no issue had Sammy Sosa passed McGwire (which almost happened) I would have had no issue with Ken Griffey Jr. passing Maris, especially since Griffey was clean. Are you kidding? Had Griffey been juicing, he probably would have avoided the injuries that hampeered the end of his career and went for like 800 HR's. 

And I certainly have no problem with Aaron Judge passing Maris. Judge is clean, has been a tremendous ambassador for baseball, a credit to the Yankees and New York City. 

Unfortunately, Judge didn’t homer this weekend against the Orioles in the Bronx, so if he’s going to pass Maris, it’s gonna have to be down in Arlington, TX against the Rangers.  Not to far from where Mantle spent most of his post-baseball career.  

METS: Dixie Disaster 

Getting swept by the Atlanta Braves, especially in the Braves ballpark, while aggravating, really shouldn’t carry a whole lotta shame. The Braves have been playing out of this world baseball since June 1. Only the Dodgers have had a better record since that date, and not by a lot. The Braves, as much as I can’t stand the jerks, are the real deal.

My issue with the Mets is all the other games they lost in September, Two at home to the lowly Nationals, a sweep at home to the crappy Cubs, two losses to the Marlins and losses to the Pirates and A’s.  They went 15-11 in September. Only two of those losses were to above .500 teams. They take just one extra win from the Cubs, Nationals, and Marlins, and they still are in first place, regardless of what happened in Atlanta.  

Instead, all the great baseball they played up til September 1st had now gone to waste. 

Now they are all but certain to end up playing in the Wild Card round against the Padres instead of getting a bye to the second round. 

Can they turn it around? Sure they can, but having held first place all that time only to lose it at the last minute has to be deflating. Do these guys have the guts to pick themselves up and fight their way to the NLCS? 

There were a few times in the beginning of the season where they were down and fought their way back. But that seems like a long time ago doesn’t it? Right now they just look defeated. Like they have no more fight in them. 

I hope I’m wrong, but…

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I know several of you either live, have relatives in, or spent some time down in Florida. I hope you and your loved ones are all OK. 

Stay Safe,

and Have a Great Week

*And if you want to say that me calling Deadspin that is a case of the pot calling the kettle black, please do so..............on your own blog thankyouverymuch