Hello Everyone:
What a weekend!
Friday night we celebrated my folks 50th (count ‘em) 50th anniversary. My dad had the money quote, saying “When I was a kid, everyone I knew who were married 50 years was really old.” Well, there you go. We celebrated at Kennedy’s in Breezy Point. A really great night.
Then on Sunday, Tara and I had dinner with a couple whose kids run track with Tim. That was a fun time with lots of laughs. Not to mention the unseasonably warm weather, with I have to admit I kind of enjoy. I know most people here in the Northeast just want the cool crispness of fall, especially now that we are in November. Looks like we’ll be dealing with that soon enough.
Onto the week that was…
BASEBALL: RIP Yanks
So I know it's been two weeks since the Astros eliminated the Yankees from the ALCS. But from where I'm sitting, the wounds are still pretty fresh. There have been multiple calls for Brian Cashman and/or Aaron Boone to be shown the door, from no less than Mariano Rivera of all people, who called for Boone's head.
Right now, both men appear to be safe, which leads me to the most fascinating element of all this..... Yankee fans complaining about owner Hal Steinbrenner. Mainly that he cares more about the bottom line than winning.
Now I have to be real careful here..... You all know I'm a total outsider here. I'm not going to lie, I wanted the Yanks to beat the Astros, as much as I knew I was risking a winter-long chops busting from Yankee fans rubbing it in that my Mets couldn't get out of the first round I can't stand Houston.
But still, I don't have the emotional investment that real Yankee fans have, so its easy for me to sit here and say I disagree that Hal doesn't care about winning.
With that being said, I disagree that Hal doesn't care about winning.
So many fans and even a bunch of writers (especially those that should know better) pine for the days of Hal's father, George. And I get it man, I do. To George, the bottom line wasn't the bottom line. It was winning the World Series. I've seen one World Series title in my lifetime. I get it.
But I also read something Sweeney Murti, the Yanks beat reporter for WFAN wrote. And it makes a ton of sense.
Hal, is what my sister Katie refers to as the "child who made the family complete" Others call them "change of life babies". George's other kids, Hank (who passed away at age 63 in 2020) Jennifer, and Jessica are all older than Hal who was born in late 1969. He's not much older than me.
And I remember as a kid that George Steinbrenner was far from a beloved figure, especially by Yankee fans. Hal was 12 the night Reggie Jackson came back to Yankee Stadium as a member of the Angels, hit a moonshot off Ron Guidry, and heard Steinbrenner Sucks! chanted throughout Yankee Stadium that night.
And Hal was not yet 21 the night Fay Vincent announced that George had been kicked out of baseball for the Howie Spira/Dave Winfield mess. Surely he heard the cheers that night in the Bronx.
My point is we like to think that George's way was the right way, and maybe what Hal is saying is that, well, maybe it wasn't.
It's easy just to chalk it up to saying Hal lacks George's fire, but George's fire led to a lot of bad stuff. George's fire kept Yogi Berra away from the Stadium for 14 years. George's fire is what caused Billy Martin to be hired and fired 5 times, with little doubt that a 6th reign was on the horizon, but for Martin's death on Christmas Day 1989.
Is it possible that Hal looks back at all that and says, "Maybe that's not the way to go?"
Look, I don't blame anyone who wants to get rid of Brian Cashman. I mean 25 years as GM is a lot. And you can make a strong case that the 3 titles he won at the end of the 90's were not of his doing, but were the work of Gene Michael and Bob Watson. Give Cash credit for 2009, but that's one title.
On the other hand, you then have to ask, "Who do you want to replace him with?" I don't have a real good answer for that question, so if you do, I'm all ears.
The bottom line is that it's sort of the chicken or the egg argument. Does winning breed stability or does stability breed winning? I'm not sure about the answer to that one, but I do believe that Hal believes its the latter, not the former.
Now I didn’t watch much of this World Series, but it seems like I missed a hell of a show. The Phillies put on a home run derby on Tuesday, only to turn around and get themselves no-hit on Wednesday. (As Timmy pointed out that was the 2nd time the Phillies got no hit this season... Here is the first)
Thursday's game was a nail biter too. I was hoping the Phillies would win on Saturday and send the series to a winner take all Game 7, but to no avail. Instead, in this day and age of no bad deed going unrewarded, the Astros are celebrating another World Championship.
CONTROVERSY-Kanye-Kyrie
Seemed like every time I turned on the news the past couple weeks, Kanye West was losing another sponsor or another company was "severing its ties" with the hip-hop star.
Nowhere did I hear what he did/said to cause all this to happen.
So I did a little research into his comments and actions and yeah, there are some whoppers in there. I think my favorite was when he tweeted he planned to go "death con (sic) 3 on Jewish people."
Well, I hope he figures out that it's actually called def-con before he becomes President.
I mean, I wouldn't have done business with him in the first place, so applauding these companies for coming to their senses comes off as a bit hollow. He lost me the time he cut off poor Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMA's.
These remarks obviously are disgusting and vulgar and so freakin over the top, it's almost hard to imagine that he said them, yet it's all on video or typed up on Twitter, nor has he backed down any or offered any sort of mea culpa, meaning he believes this crap.
According to Forbes.com, Kanye has seen his net worth drop from $6 billon to $4.5 billion. And that number looks like it's still going to plummet.
And speaking of guys with too much $$$ and not enough common sense, Kyrie Irving, posted a link to his Twitter account “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America” — a film that contains anti-semitic material.
The film amongst other mind numbing allegations denies the Holocaust. In Germany, you deny the holocaust, they throw your ass in jail.
Kyrie's idiocy at first drew a stern rebuke from Nets owner Joe Tsai, but not much else. Steve Nash, the Nets head coach was let go, in what now seems more like a mercy firing than a punishment for poor performance. And it seemed like the only people that were holding Kyrie's feet to the fire were the media. And with them, he was doubling down.
He finally gave some what of an apology, and donated $500,000 "toward causes and organizations that work to eradicate hate and intolerance in our communities."
The Nets suspended Irving the next day. He still hasn't denounced everything in the video, and lets face it, half a million bucks to a guy making almost $40 million is a drop in the bucket.
I know there is a ton of talk about cancel culture and that people like to make fun of those who are "woke". This is still a country that will accept people doing dumb things if they 1) own it and 2) make a concerted effort to make amends. Kanye's not doing that at all, and Kyrie's not doing nearly enough. Like I said Kanye was never my cup of tea, but he was talented enough an entertainer to have all this influence and accumulate this unimaginable wealth. Kyrie, when he's on his game is one of the best in the NBA.
If both of these guys put their effort and talent into positive things, who knows what they could accomplish. Instead they're both just providing the world something we definitely do not need.
Controversy and hate…..That's a dime a dozen these days.
FOOTBALL: How bout dem Jets??!!
I’d be lying if I told you that I thought the Jets would knock off the Bills on Sunday, especially after that monstrosity against the Patriots last week. But to be honest, and it’s hard to do because I can’t stand the Pats so much, there were signs, even in that awful loss, that things are on the upswing.
They were one questionable call from being up 17-3 in that game, and the defense played reasonably well. Yes, Zach Wilson threw 3 picks, (the one thing he can’t be doing) but still, as much as it ticked me off, they did look a ton better than they did this time last year.
Now against the Bills, they got back to short passing, running the football game plan that has been so effective for them this year. The new running back they got from Jacksonville to replace the injured Breece Hall was effective, as was Michael Carter. The line is opening up holes and Wilson is only running for his life on a few plays and not almost every play. That drive in the 4th quarter that led to the game winning FG was textbook, (except for the fact that they couldn’t punch in a TD) I was nervous that giving the ball back to Josh Allen with a minute and a half was a recipe for disaster, but thankfully the defense held and the Jets had their biggest win in years. They are now 2-1 in the division, after having had no divisional wins it seemed since the Reagan administration.
They are now 6-3 heading into their bye week. Here’s hoping the good times keep rolling when they come back.
ELECTION PREVIEW 2022
I'm going to keep this relatively short and sweet. People who read this weekly (and a bunch more who don't) pretty much by this point know who I am or more to the point who I am NOT voting for.
So here's the breakdown...
If you are running for office on Tuesday, and you voted against certifying the 2020 Presidential election, or in any way shape or form tried to de legitimize Joe Biden's win, I will not now, or ever vote for you. That to me is the biggest issue in this election. Not inflation. Not crime. Not abortion. Preserving democracy is priority number one. It's the only priority.
We give that away, none of these other issues are going to matter. And make no mistake, if a candidate at any time supported the Big Lie, than giving away our democracy is EXACTLY what they are doing.
If you haven't already, please go vote.
Sorry we were late on this.
Stay Safe
Please Vote
and Have a Great Week
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