Weekly Mail Christmas Eve Special 2022

 

                                                 Christmas Eve 2022 -Rockefeller Center (16° F) 

Thank you for tuning in.

The average temperature for Christmas in New York City is 41°/29°. The coldest Christmas in my lifetime was the year my sister Kate was born. 13° for a high in 1983. In 1980, the low actually went below 0°, but I think the high was above 13. 

This year, we practically had a tropical storm on the 22nd, followed by plunging temperatures throughout the 23rd, till we got to today's frigid weather. It only got up to 16 today in NYC. 

So I hope you are all OK and are all dealing with the cold. I actually wore a hat and gloves today in the city (I took them off for the annual selfie with the Rockefeller Center tree) And I hope you are enjoying Christmas Eve and looking forward to a wonderful Christmas Day tomorrow. 

1) Do They Know It's Christmas Time-Band Aid- Yeah maybe one of these days, I'll get so sick of this song that it will drop down the list. Hasn't happened yet. Still sounds great 38 years on...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3fSknbR7Y4

2) Happy Christmas (War is Over)  - Plastic Ono Band-   Another song I can never get enough of. And I feel like we need the sentiment of the song now more than ever...

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbdyg51MVbg

3) Fairytale of New York-The Pouges with Kirsty McColl-  The official Christmas song of Cousin's Christmas. Still captures the thrills and the challenges of living in NYC. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv0hlbWpa1w

4) Oh, Holy Night -Josh Groban - The older I get, the more I appreciate it.  As my friend Emily E. O'Connor said of it "It tells you everything you need to know about what Christmas means" I can't put it any better than that. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17kiIIxSdC0

5) Wonderful Christmastime -Wings- I feel bad knocking Macca down another notch,. But this is still catchy and fun. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94Ye-3C1FC8

6) 7 O'Clock News/Silent Night-Simon and Garfunkel- On one side of your speaker, you hear Simon and Garfunkel singing the classic Silent Night. Out of the other speaker, you hear a newscaster (Charlie O'Donnell of Wheel of Fortune fame according to Wikipedia) reading the news headlines of the day, including the death of comedian Lenny Bruce, the indictment of serial killer Richard Speck, and former Vice President Richard Nixon predicting 5 more years of war in Vietnam. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkJlmYwMgRM

Depressing, but powerful.  So let's pick it up a little.

7) Christmas in Hollis- Run DMC - I'm not much of a rap fan, but this is the closest song to represent my hometown. The official Christmas song of Queens. Ray told me I had to put this up higher or else I'd have to turn in my Queens passport. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR07r0ZMFb8&t=101s

8) O Come O Come Emmanuel-Joan Baez- Every year at least once or twice, my hippie parents would gather my sisters and I around the entertainment system, bust out the the incense and the lava lamps, and pop  "A Joan Baez Christmas" into the cassette player

Ok so most of that story is bull, but we did have A Joan Baez Christmas in our collection. It was probably a buck and a quarter at some supermarket, which is most likely the reason someone in my house bought it. This is the one song  I remember from it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq_6seRbB2U

9) Blue Christmas -Elvis/Porky Pig- The Elvis version is a classic by itself, but the Porky Pig version is hysterical.  

Elvis

Porky

10) Christmas in New York-Shilelagh Law- I should have had this song on here a lot sooner than this year, but this year for some reason, I'm just feeling it more. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9POSq7qJ5Oc

Hey, who put this in here???? Cousin's Christmas

OK here is this year's new feature. A little trivia for ya

 WHAT CHILD IS THIS?

These 10 famous people share (or shared) a birthday with the little baby Jesus* See how many you can get

1) This one's in honor of my wife. One of America's most famous nurses, credited with founding the Red Cross. Born in 1821

Who is  _____________________________

2) Here's looking at you kid. This Casablanca's star's  life began on Christmas Day 1899. Hint- At the beginning of Scarface, Tony Montana (Al Pacino) gives him credit along with James Cagney for learning how to speak English. 

 Who is ________________________________

3) This television pioneer allowed us to travel to a different dimension, creating of of TV's most iconic series, which has been done over many times, most recently by Jordan Peele. Born Christmas Day 1924.

Who is ________________________________

4) Nicknamed The Snake, this late NFL quaterback gave John Madden his only Super Bowl coaching win. Considered one of the best left handed QB's in NFL history. He was born on Christmas Day, 1945

Who is _______________________________

5) Hopefully this singer will be celebrating his 76th birthday tomorrow with a cheeseburger in Paradise while wasting away in Margaritaville. Born Christmas Day 1946

Who is ______________________________________

6) If she was in New York this week, she might have said "Here Comes the Rain Again."  If she can get through tomorrow without "walking on broken glass", she'll have a happy 68th Birthday. Born Christmas Day 1954

 

Who is __________________________________

7) Just hope he's not spending Christmas Eve in the drunk tank, as that would put a damper on his 65th birthday. He and his band sang one of the above mentioned songs with the late Kirsty MacColl. Born Christmas Day 1957

Who is __________________________________

8) This former Yankee and Met infamously said "Don't need no press now" in his first spring training with the Yanks, and was playing cards with Bobby Bonilla during a playoff game with the Mets. Oh, and he's also baseball's all time stolen base leader. Turns 64 tomorrow. Born Christmas Day 1958

Who is ________________________________

9) This stud turns 51 tomorrow and is the current Prime Minister of Canada, a job his father held when he was Born Christmas Day 1971. 

Who is ______________________________________

10) If you wish her a Happy 51st birthday tomorrow, she may "thank you for giving her the best day of her life."  Early 2000's singer born Christmas Day 1971

Who is _____________________

WELL, TONIGHT THANK GOD IT'S THEM INSTEAD OF YOU! 

These 10 famous people died on Christmas Day. I was going to call them poor souls, but one of them was a real bad guy. See how many you can get..

1) His tombstone supposedly read, "I'd Rather be Here then in Philadelphia". It doesn't, but if it had, this famous comedian would have gotten his wish on Christmas Day 1946. 

Who is ___________________________

2) This R&B pioneer was in between sets at a Houston concert on Christmas Day 1954, when he picked up a gun and accidentally shot himself in the head, dying at age 25. His song Pledging My Love, was featured in John Carpenter's Christine, and Bad Lieutenant starring Harvey Keitel. 

Who is _________________________

3) Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark in the Avengers movies) was nominated for an Oscar for portraying this legendary English comic, filmmaker and composer, who died on Christmas Day in 1977.

Who is __________________________

4) The people of Romania got an extra gift under their Holiday Tree on Christmas morning 1989, when their brutal dictator was put before a firing squad along with his wife and executed on Christmas Day 1989. SPELLING DOESN'T COUNT ON THIS ONE 

Who is ___________________________

5) No doubt this man would have been named manager of the Yankees for a 6th time some time in 1990, but for the fact that he spent Christmas Day 1989 getting shnockered at an Upstate NY bar, and proceeded to try to drive home, crashing his car, killing himself and injuring his friend. 

Who is _______________________

6) This man was a multi talented, singer and actor, my favorite role of his being a race car driver dressed as a priest along with fellow Rat-Packer Sammy Davis Jr. in the Cannonball Run. He died Christmas Day 1995. 

Who is ________________________

7) This singer sang Living in America before the Creed-Drago fight in Rocky IV.  He also died in America on Christmas Day 2006. 

Who is ___________________________

8) This amazing singer and actress played Catwoman in the final season of Batman. She also sang the original version of Santa Baby. She died Christmas Day 2008. 

Who is ___________________________

9) Last Christmas, he gave you his heart. Sadly on Christmas 2016, he died of heart failure. Andrew Ridgley's former partner in Wham. 

Who is ___________________________

10) "Driving that train, high on cocaine...." this former Boston Celtic championship player and head coach who died Christmas Day 2020 didn't do either of these things, but if you know the next two words of that Grateful Dead song, you'll get the answer. SPELLING COUNTS ON THIS ONE! 

Who is ____________________

AND HERE ARE THE ANSWERS.. 

Born on Christmas 

Clara Barton-1821-

 Humphrey Bogart-1899

Rod Serling-1924

Ken Stabler-1945

Jimmy Buffett-1946

Annie Lennox-1954

Shane McGowan-1957

Rickey Henderson-1958

Justin Trudeau-1971-Fun Fact- He has a brother, Alexandre Sacha Trudeau who was also born Christmas Day, two years later. 

Dido-1971 

Died On Christmas

WC Fields-1946

Johnny Ace-1954

Charlie Chaplin-1977

Nicolae Ceausescu-1989

Billy Martin-1989

Dean Martin-1995

James Brown-2006

Eartha Kitt-2008

George Michael-2016

K.C. Jones -2020

*So here's a fun fact, all these folks who were born on December 25? According to most theologians, they do not in fact share a birthday with Jesus. 

The bible never actually mentions December 25 as Jesus' birthday. In fact, it doesn't mention a date at all. Nobody is actually sure of the exact date of Jesus birth, but many have offered educated guesses based on the scriptures.  

For example, the bible mentions "shepherds in the fields tending to their sheep..." At the end of December? Not likely. You know what they say about keeping your pets outside on cold nights, right?

Also the reason Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem was to be counted for the census. The powers that be at the time, even as ruthless as they could be, would not have had people travelling all over the Middle East at that time of year. Most likely it would have been in late September/early October

December 25, was the last day that the pagan festival of the winter solstice was celebrated, so the Christians, specifically newly converted Roman Emperor Constantine, co-opted the day and created Christmas out of that.   

And if you thought that I learned any of this in my 12 years of Catholic School, guess again. It was easier and more cost effective just to have us all believe that Deceember 25 was Jesus birthday. 

The first person to tell me about Jesus not being born in December was the manager of the first OTB I  worked at, on Grand Ave in Maspeth. This manager, who every other word out of his mouth was usually an f-bomb, told me one of his nephews studied theology in college and he "told me all this $hit" 

                                                                   Merry Christmas 

Weekly Mail December 18, 2022

 Hey Everyone:

Sorry we didn't publish last week. Celebrated another milestone birthday with another long time, well, almost lifetime friend. 

Back when WM was a recap of my wild and crazy weekends, the star of many of those recaps was one Patti-Ann Fitzsimmons, who to this day is one of the best planners of get togethers I have ever known. Those crazy nights on the Upper East Side and in midtown Manhattan were orchestrated by Patti-Ann. And we were coming from all over, PA and crew were usually coming in from Westchester/the Northern Bronx, while the rest of us were coming in from Rockaway, Woodside, Brooklyn, etc. But we all got there, and many times this was before everyone had a cellphone. 

And that's why we all descended on Rory Dolan's in Yonkers last Saturday to celebrate. 

What a blast it was. A perfect Saturday afternoon. Paddy Tubz who've I known even longer than I've known Patti-Ann,  was the DJ, the France-England World Cup quarterfinal was on (rendering the majority of Rory's a French FootBall Club supporter bar no doubt).  And of course catching up with everybody. Friends I hadn't seen in years. 

Two weekends in a row, getting to catch up with old friends. What an awesome way to kick off the holidays. 

Before we proceed, here's a programming note.... We'll have our 6th annual Christmas Eve Spectacular next Saturday night, posting to Facebook at 8 PM EST. After a couple of years struggling to come up with interesting stuff to write, I think we'll have a fun one next week. Pretty stoked about it actually, so I hope you'll enjoy it. 

Let's get onto the news of the last couple weeks..

FREED-Brittney Griner

Lots to unpack here. Here's where I will start. 

1) I am happy that WNBA star Brittney Griner is home. To me, no matter how you slice it, 9 years in prison for not even pot possession, but pot residue possession?  That's not a prison sentence, that's a hostage situation, which is how I viewed this. I'm not an expert on Russian law, (such as it is) but I'm pretty sure if a Russian citizen was caught with some grass, they wouldn't be sent packing for 9 years. Sure Griner been more careful? Probably. But 9 years for pot? C'mon. 

2) There was a time not too long ago, where not standing for our National Anthem was a offense by which while I knew you couldn't be locked up for it, I also had little sympathy for the people who chose to take this stance. 

I heard many people saying this week that they didn't want Griner released from Russian prison because she "hated America" This is actually her exact quote to the Arizona Republic back in 2020 when she suggested that they not play the National Anthem before the WNBA Games that season. Keep in mind, this was in the heart of the George Floyd protests, not long after Breona Taylor's death and while the arenas were empty because of COVID-19. 

"I don't mean that in any disrespect to our country. My dad was in Vietnam and a law officer for 30 years. I wanted to be a cop before basketball. I do have pride for my country."

Maybe I'm buggin, but that don't sound like someone who hates America, maybe just someone who thinks we can do better. 

When she was first drafted by the Phoenix Mercury, I read a profile of her in either SI of ESPN the Magazine. She is 6ft 9in tall, a Gay, African-American woman. She talked about the slew of insults she received  growing up. You want to say it's unfair to lay that entirely on our country? Fair enough. But is also fair to say that our country as a whole hasn't always done a great job protecting folks like Brittney Griner? I mean, if we're being honest here, how can we not say that? 

3) Then there is the criticism of President Biden and the deal he made to get Griner free. 

There are two fronts on this:

a) why free Griner when there is another prisoner, a genuine American hero, a former US Marine named Paul Whelan, who was convicted of espionage, and sentenced to 16 years in jail, of which he has now served 3 years. 

So let's get this out of the way first...officials have stressed that this wasn't a choice Biden or anyone else in America got to make. It wasn't Griner or Whelan, it was Griner or they both stay in Russian prison. This was clearly a case of a bird in hand being better than two in a bush. Anything else is just right wing baloney. 

b) and to me what's a more fair criticism of the deal is what the US gave up to secure Griner's release. Viktor Bout, nicknamed the Merchant of Death, is a convicted arms dealer. Amongst Bout's clients, were al-Qaeda, the Taliban and militants in Rawanda, three groups who are clearly not on our side. I was watching CBS this Morning the day Griner was released. Catherine Herridge a CBS Investigative Correspondent said she spoke to some of the federal agents who were involved in apprehending Bout, said that "while they wanted to see families reunited, they still had deep concerns with any trade involving Bout because of the message it would send: that it makes good business sense to target Americans." 

I can't get past the feeling that perhaps we could have found someone else to trade to get Griner out of Russia. I know people much smarter than we were working on this deal, but the Merchant of Death for a basketball player?  I'm sorry, but that's a reasonable concern. And again, I believe the Biden adminisration acted here in good faith. I guess we just have to pray that we did enough damage to Bout's operation that we were able to dismantle his network and keep him out of business.

As a fan of teams who have won but two championships in my almost 50 years on earth, I have extensive experience in holding my breath for trades to work out. What's one more? 

WORLD CUP FINAL: An all time classic 

The final game of the World Cup never ceases to amaze me. 

Think about all the hype the Super Bowl gets in this country. Millions of people watch it, but there are plenty of places in the world that simply aren’t interested.

But the World Cup has the attention of every corner of our planet. 

And that was all I could think about as I watched both the French and Argentinean players lining up to take those penalty shots. How must that feel? How do you block that out as you prepare to take those kicks? 

I was happy Argentina won, happy for Lionel Messi to finally win. I thought they had it wrapped up, what with a two goal lead and clearly dominating possession in the second half. But these games can turn around in a heartbeat and this one did. The French, scoring on a penalty kick and then tying it up a minute or so later. 

And anytime a champion is crowned in overtime, it’s the most dramatic way to win and the most excruciating way to lose. 

Congratulations to Argentina. Condolences to France. In 2026, the fun comes here. 

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

I’m not going to bore you by kvetching about the Jets. Only to say I don’t blame Zach Wilson or even Robert Saleh’s clock management. I blame the poor defense. That game winning TD the Lions scored was inexcusable. 

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

Happy Chanukah to all who celebrate. 

Christmas Eve Special next Saturday at 8 PM. 

Till then

Stay Safe

and Have a Great Week 

Weekly Mail December 4, 2022

 

Hey!

Saturday night I went to a surprise 49th birthday party.

This was brilliantly planned and coordinated by my friend Trina for her husband, my brother from another mother, Kevin Woods. What better way to surprise your husband for his 50th birthday then by throwing him a birthday party on his 49th? 

It worked. He definitely was surprised! 

The DJ said that the mike was open if anyone wanted to get up and say a few words about the guest of honor. Woodsy’s Dad volunteered me to be the first to speak. (DOH!)

I went up and talked about how Kev and I first met…. A rainy miserable day in August 1986. My friends on 112th Street decided to go over to 113th Street to Kevin’s house. I didn’t know who he was and he didn’t know who I was. “I can’t let this guy in!” Kevin said pointing at me. Somehow, my buddies negotiated my way in and we sat playing whatever was the big video console at the time (Nintendo maybe?) At one point Kevin’s sister came downstairs and one of my buddies had the idea to throw a blanket over me because that wouldn’t raise any suspicion. (When I told Nancy this story years later, she laughed and said “Yeah..YOU were we the one I was worried about out of that crew”) 

From that day on though, Kevin and I hit it off. We ended up in high school together, where I wouldn’t have gotten through without him. Then after college I worked with his brother Jim for a few years, my first real 9-5 gig. I told everyone how much the Woods’s meant to me and how happy I was to see them all. I was a nervous wreck, but I’m glad I got to say that to them. 

It was an awesome evening. 

What wasn’t awesome? Well, this past weekend in sports. 

FRIDAY NIGHT-Jacob deBum 

Timmy broke the news to me on Friday that Jacob deGrom had signed with the Texas Rangers. Sure enough, there it was..a five year deal worth $185 million. On the surface, it’s a lot of money, but it’s actually 37 mil per year, which while not chump change, it’s also not what Max Scherzer is getting, and I was pretty sure he was going to want at least that much. Instead he gave up $$$ for years. 

But it’s also quite obvious that he wanted out of New York. And a couple of years ago, I may not have blamed him, all those nights where he gave up 1 or 2 runs and got nothing to show for it? Yeah, I wouldn’t have blamed him for wanting to skip town either. 

But the team now has an owner willing to spend, a GM who has an idea of what he is doing and a manager who is one of the best in the business. Not to mention he got paid handsomely the past couple of seasons not to pitch. 

I just remember watching him warm up on the mound at Citi Field that Sunday in August, his first game back at home after his latest injury. I remember that ovation he got from the crowd, people I knew who were at the game getting emotional watching him warm up as Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man played. He had already announced he was opting out of his deal as was his right, but I thought to myself, “Why would he want to leave here, knowing how much the fans here respected him?” 

Of course I shouldn’t have been that naive.

Bill Madden often talks about Scott Boras’ strategy of finding “one dumb owner.” Just one owner who will overpay someone and set the market for the rest of the league. It seems like more than once, that one dumb owner resides in Arlington, TX. Remember A-Rod’s $252 million deal? That was also courtesy of the Rangers. By year 3 of that 10 year deal, the Rangers were looking to get out of it. 

5 years for a guy with arm trouble is insane. I am glad the Mets didn’t bite on that. 

I’m not going to insult you by saying that if deGrom had simply taken the better deal, I wouldn’t be upset, because of course I was going to be upset either way. I don’t begrudge the man for taking a 5 year deal if someone was dumb enough to offer it. 

But what bugs me is that he seemed to have his mind made up and that his heart wasn’t in it at the end. I wonder how hard he rehabbed, how much he cared about getting back to the Mets in 2022, knowing he was on his way out the door? I hate to think like that, but I think it’s a legitimate question. 

There may come a day where I appreciate what he did for the Mets, but for right now he just comes off as a fraud. I guess for $37 million a year, it doesn’t matter what we think of him. He’s laughing all the way to the bank. 

                                                  

SATURDAY MORNING- While My Qatar Gently Weeps…

So before I write about the US Men’s Soccer team’s loss to the Netherlands on Saturday, let me first shower them with praise. First, for beating Iran last Tuesday 1-0, and even more, for the classy way team captain Tyler Adams handled questions from the “Iranian Media”. 

First the so called reporter reprimanded Adams for mispronouncing the name of the country. The correct pronunciation is Ear-Ron, but many of us ugly Americans call it I-Ran, basically we pronounce it as it is spelled. Adams apologized. 

I would not have.

Then they asked Adams about discrimination in America, and Adams answered with the most dignified and classy answer, saying that discrimination exists everywhere, and that U.S continues to make progress every day. 

Bullseye. 

Again I wouldn’t have handled that nearly as well. Taking a question like that from a man representing a country that treats women like garbage. The World Economic Forum ranked Iran as 140 out of 144 countries in regards to gender parity. Is there racism in our country? Still way too much. But for someone from Iran to call us out? GTFOH!

It made the win on Tuesday all the more sweet. 

As for the loss on Saturday, well, there was no shortage of good chances, we just couldn’t cash them in. The Dutch are really good and they made the most of their opportunities. It would have been great to keep going, but we can take the moral victory. A tie against a really good British team and a win over Iran. We get the world on our turf in 2026. We can all look forward to that. 

SATURDAY NIGHT- Hockey Letdown

I won’t write too much about the Rangers now with everything else going on, but so far they have been a major disappointment. Coming off their trip to the ECF last year, they have been mediocre at best. Their inability to resign certain players because of the salary cap seemed to have come back to haunt them. It’s too early to panic, but not too early to be concerned. They lost a bad game to a bad team (the Blackhawks) 5-2 Saturday night at MSG. 

SUNDAY- No Medals for Trying

It is a sign of progress that the Jets lost on the last play of the game and there was no solace in that. 

The Vikings are one of the better teams in the NFL, now at 10-2. The Jets were trailing at halftime 20-6, but dominated on both sides of the ball in the second half. They did everything but score touchdowns, kicking 3 FG’s to come to within 20-15. Minnesota scored a TD to make it a two score game, and the Jets finally scored a TD, to get it to 27-22. They even had one more shot to win it after the defense held, but Mike White threw an interception in end zone on the last play of the game. 

While there are no such things as moral victories when you are trying to make the playoffs, there were a bunch of positives, mainly, now that we have a competent QB under center, we can see just how good our receivers and running backs are. The running game was pretty good on Sunday, with  Zonovan (Bam) Knight rushing for 90 yards, and Garrett Wilson looks like he’s going to be a star receiver. 

And QB Mike White while maybe not as dominant as he was against the Bears, still made a few really nice throws. His biggest test yet comes this Sunday against the Bills in Orchard Park. 

The Giants and Commanders played to a 20-20 tie. I heard a lot pf people saying that was akin to a loss and I may have agreed, but they are really banged up with injuries. 

OBITUARIES

I’m a big Fleetwood Mac fan, so the death of Christine McVie was very sad. One of the most amazing and underrated voices in rock and roll. I always felt that Stevie Nicks got more attention (and she is an icon in her own right) but McVie to me was one of the best to ever do it. 

And even though he lived to be 90, and I hadn’t watched him on TV in years, I was also sad to hear of the passing of Bob McGrath from Sesame Street. He was always my favorite, just one of those faces that everyone felt comfortable with. And from all accounts, just as kind a man off the air as he was on. 

And Kristie Alley, who was hysterical on Cheers, passed away on Monday night at age 71. 

RIP.

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

As we go to press tonight, the runoff election in Georgia between incumbent Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker is taking place, the polls due to close at 7PM EST. That we are even at this stage with someone as unqualified as Walker is a sad state of affairs, but, well, here we are. 

Sorry this was late. 

Stay Safe

and Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail November 27, 2022

 Hi:

Hope everyone had a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving. 

According to a report in USA Today, the rise of Cyber Week during the holiday shopping season has helped to ease the desire to wake up at 3 AM on Black Friday to be the first in line to buy that new toaster at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Ergo, we don't have the mess that we had all those years with folks getting violent on Black Friday. 

I feared last year that Black Friday was going to be a bloodbath. Between the inflation (that is still an issue) the supply chain issues (which thankfully seem to have subsided) and just the fact that many of us hadn't been out and about because of COVID-19, it had the recipe for a rough day. 

But thankfully it was relatively peaceful and now this year as well. At least there were no fights over Christmas gifts. We did of course have a couple of mass shootings.

NEWS ITEM: MORE GUN VIOLENCE

On Tuesday night just after 10 PM, a manager at a Walmart in Chesapeake, used a 9 mm hand gun to kill 7 of his co-workers and injure 6 others before taking his own life. 

There was a note he left on his phone, essentially apologizing in advance for his actions and laying the blame on Satan. It's usually either God or Satan's fault in these things. Never the nutjob with the gun. 

And naturally, the gunman purchased his weapon and ammo that morning. Background checks? We don't need no background checks!

You want to tell me a background check may not have stopped this? Maybe, but the fact that he was able to purchase the gun in the morning and wipe out a bunch of his co-workers that night shouldn't give anyone pause? 

Then there was the shooting at a Colorado Springs nightclub last weekend. a 22 year old man walked into an LGBQ nightclub just before midnight on Saturday and opened fire. 5 dead, 25 injured before he was confronted and wrestled down by two heroes. 

There still hasn't been a motive determined, but a possible hint came from the shooter's estranged father who at first said he was surprised his kid was in a LGBQ nightclub because "we're Mormon's and we don't do gay."

See it's either God or Satan. 

In either one of these horrible cases, common sense gun regulations might have helped, probably would have helped. But we've made it so that you can get a gun as easily as you can get a Big Mac at McDonalds. You can scream "mental health issues" all you want, the issue is still guns, and the easy availability of them. To paraphrase President Biden: "now there are more tables that will have empty chairs this Thanksgiving." And at the rate we're going, they'll be ever more empty chairs at Christmas.

Happy Holidays America. 

Had to get that off my chest. Onto other things....

FOOTBALL: 

Let's address the Zach Wilson benching a bit more then when we touched on it Wednesday night. 

So I am of two minds here. The Bears defense is amongst the NFL's worst, so this may have been a good way for Wilson to cure himself of what ailed him against the Patriots last week. 

But to be honest, I don't think that's why he's riding the pine today.  

I believe that is due to his not accepting responsibility for the team's loss last week. Responding "no, no" when asked if he felt like he let the defense down. That caused a bit of a rift in the locker and understandably so. Part of the job of a QB, especially in this town, is to own your mistakes. Wilson may have had an issue with the reporter who asked the question (I heard that bouncing around sports talk radio world this week) he may have not been thinking clearly. He may just be an immature 23 year old who is still learning his way around both on and off the field. I'm quite sure he is not a purely selfish person who doesn't take responsibility for his actions. 

But he does need to learn the lessons here. And if that means taking a couple weeks to marinate on the bench, then that's the price he pays. 

Mike White of course, went out and played a near flawless game. 3 touchdown passes, 315 yards passing, no interceptions. Did White play awesome football? Or was he the playing against a defense that could make any QB look like Tom Brady? 

We will get a better idea next week when the Jets play the Vikings who are having a great season. 

                                      Saint Mike?

The Giants meanwhile ruined my in-law's Thanksgiving by falling apart in the second half on Thursday evening in Dallas. To be fair they are decimated by injuries and the Cowboys were coming off a big blowout win against one of the top teams record wise in the NFC, the aforementioned Vikings. It looks like Dallas may have righted the ship. 

And the first game on Thanksgiving, for the second year in a row, I got screwed by the Lions getting the back door cover. I stopped picking the Lions on Thanksgiving because it seems like they never win that game anymore. And they still don't. But last year against the Bears and this year against the Bills, they lost on last second field goals. If the Bills weren't going to cover the 9.5 they were laying, then I wanted then to freakin lose. They won and didn't cover, so I got the double whammy. 

LEGAL: Hot Judge in Hot Water

According to TMZ, a judge in Columbia, who has a reputation for posting provocative pics of herself to her Instagram account, appeared on virtual court hearing drunk and half naked. 

Vivian Polania was hearing a case about an alleged car bomber, so this wasn't some guy selling pot to an undercover (which I guess is not even against the law anymore anyway). And she appeared on the Zoom video, with out any pants on. TMZ says she was wearing lingerie, but take a look for yourself, that looks like a sweater, a t-shirt and nothing from the waist down. She was also smoking a cigarette, which I found disgusting, but there was a time where judges and lawyers were allowed to smoke in court. 

But they were never allowed to leave their pants at home. And when she spoke, it seemed apparent that she had a liquid breakfast, and I'm not talking about a smoothie either. 

This reminded me of my favorite story I helped work on at the Post, I've talked about it here before. There was a judge who kept a "male enhancement pump" under his bench. I suggested the headline should be "Here come da judge!"  They editors love it, and they used it as the photo caption. 

The photo isn't in the story here, but here is the original Post story from 2004. 

SOCCER: The World Cup

I got to see a most of the game on Friday between the US and England. Some observations.

1) One thing I love about the World Cup, when they say the game starts at 2 PM, it starts at 2 PM. 2 PM isn't when they sing the national anthems or bring Pele out to do an honorary face-off. I turned the game on at 2:02, and they were already 2 minutes in. Shame on me for not putting it on on time. 

2) There wasn't too much of it in Friday's match, but I still crack up when guys who barely get touched flop to the ground like they just got nailed by Chuck Bednarik.* As the tournament goes on, we'll see more of that I guarantee that. 

3) As for the game itself, the US had a couple of chances to score and even the announcers thought that they settled for the tie at the end, but still this was quite an accomplishment against one of the best teams in the world. It would have been nice if they hadn't blown the game against Wales, they would already be into the next round (I think). Now it's win or go home against Iran on Tuesday. 

Well, that’s all I have to say.. Salud! 

Stay Safe 

and Have a Great Week

*If you don’t get that reference, Google that name and Frank Gifford and you’ll see what I mean. 

Weekly Mail November 23, 2022

Hey Everyone:

Over the summer I was reading the newsletter I get from my old high school, Msgr. McClancy, and I saw the list of athletes being inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame. I recognized Mike Hamilton, a sprinter a couple years younger than me, so I was happy to see that. I also saw that they were going to honor three teams that won City Championships, including the 1990 Track and Field team I was on that won the outdoor title. “Hey look” I joked to Tara and Timmy, “I’m getting inducted into the Hall of Fame”. 

Now just to clarify: I was a member of that team, but my contributions to the title run were minimal, and that’s putting it nicely. I was a high jumper/long jumper, and not particularly good at either one. I could run fast and I could jump high or far,  the issue being that I couldn’t do both of those things at the same time. 

So I was more Ed Hearn than Gary Carter, more Chad Curtis than Derek Jeter. Still, winning that championship was one of the highlights of my life. I didn’t give much more thought till early October, when the alumni office sent me a letter inviting me to the ceremony because they recognized me as a member of one of the teams that they were honoring. 

How cool right?

This past Saturday, Tara and I headed back to my old hood for the induction ceremony. The flood of memories that came back was something else.

We had won a couple of indoor meets that winter, but lost in the Brooklyn/Queens championships (The BQ’s) and the city championship meet. That wasn’t unexpected, our strength was during outdoor season. 

Before the two big championship meets, our coaches, Coach Carey the track coach and my coach, Field Events Coach Devoti, would bring us into a classroom and write out on the chalkboard how they thought we could win the meet…if so and so wins this race, and this guy comes in second, we’ll score this many points, etc. It was a bit like watching MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki on Election Night doing his thing. 

They did this before the 1990 Outdoor BQ’s, which would be a 2 day event, the first half being at our place. After day one, we had a 16.5 point lead, due in no small part to our future Captain Mike Panzini winning the shot put event with a 54 foot 4 inch throw. 

The next day, however, we went up to Iona Prep (in New Rochelle, which was neither in Brooklyn or Queens now that I think of it) and Archbishop Molloy caught us, and won the BQ Championship. 

The two weeks between the BQ’s and the City Championships were tough. We were all disappointed and the coaches were on edge. Molloy had won the Indoor BQ’s and City titles, and now it was looking like they would sweep all 4. I don’t even remember the coaches doing the projections the day before the meet.

The Cities were held at the old Downing Stadium on Randall’s Island. (Now called Icahn Stadium, and completely refurbished) on May 26, 1990. 

Now it’s not like there was a scoreboard where we could keep track of everything. We saw we had won a couple of races we hadn’t won at the BQ’s and had managed some extra, unexpected points in the javelin. Around 2:30 or so, the buzz was starting to build that we had pulled off the upset. When the officials confirmed it, we went bananas!

We went back to school in the vans and celebrated the victory. I’m thinking we took bottles of soda and sprayed them around the locker room in lieu of champagne, I’m not quite sure but it was something along those lines. It was awesome. 

A few years back, I remember reading Frank Gifford’s memoir about the 1958 NFL Championship game. One of the things I remember him talking about was when he was doing Monday Night Football, he would be flying all over the country. On some of those long flights, he would think about the guys he played with that day, both his Giants teammates and his Baltimore Colt opponents.

I found myself doing the same thing on long car rides or train rides. I at least had the advantage of social media if I was curious about an old teammate. But I really didn’t do a great job keeping in touch with many of the guys. 

Fortunately, both coaches Carey and Devoti were there on Saturday, as were a few of my teammates. Shot put/discus thrower Brendan Maloney (who still had our 1990 Championship jacket, and more remarkably than that, it still fit him!) Pole-vaulter/Javelin thrower Joe Scarantino, and middle distance runner Alex Mendez, along with the aforementioned Hall of Fame sprinter Mike Hamilton. My first captain, Dave Sucic, and former fellow high jumper Andrew Corrado, who graduated the year before, were also there. 

One of the other people to be inducted was Mr. O’Donell, who was the athletic director when I was there. The current athletic director, my friend Gerard O’Riordan, was part of the 1990 Soccer City Championships, so he was honored as well. Mr O’Donnell was introduced by my junior year math teacher Mr. Stampfel. I went over to talk to Mr. Stampfel after the ceremony, and he asked me if I thought he was a good math teacher. “You were an awesome teacher” I told him, “the fact that I still can’t do math was not due to your lack of trying.” What can I say? I’m a writer not a mathematician.

I told Coach Devoti a story I hadn’t told in years, and I never told him…. He and the late great Mr. Maher* were my sophomore year gym teachers. The day of the gym quarterly exam, I had been home sick with strep throat. The first day back after exam week I went up to Coach Devoti and asked if I could take the gym quarterly. 

“Where were you during exam week?” He demanded to know.

“I don’t know, taking my exams?” I said something smart like that. 

(The gym quarterly BTW, was a written test about basketball. They gave the gym quarterly independent of exam week. I knew basketball as well as I knew anything) 

“Go find Mr. Maher and see if he’ll let you take it. If it was up to me you’d fail!”

I found Mr. Maher who gave me the test without any fuss, it took me about 10 seconds to do, and I handed it in. 100 on the test, 100 for the quarter in gym.

The next morning I was having breakfast with Danny Boland, and I was calling Devoti every 4 letter word I could think of. “He did something like that with me, Danny told me, “then he asked me if I wanted to join the track team.” 

“I’d never join any team with him” I said 

Later that day….

We were playing basketball in gym class and Devoti was the ref. I was taking the jump against Michael “Sunny” Chaplin who went on to play for University of Texas. Of course there were 10 guys behind me and nobody in front.

“Not one of you think I can win this tap?” I deadpanned 

Devoti burst out laughing. 

We played the game and I held my own against the school’s best player. Afterwards, Coach pulled me aside and asked if I was interested in joining the high jump team. After what happened the day before, I figured I’d tell him no. (Politely of course) But I surprised myself and said yes I would. 

I don’t like tossing the word father-figure too much, because the father I have is pretty amazing in his own right, but Coach Devoti became my closest confidant and mentor the next two and a half years. I was so happy to see him on Saturday. 

And with Coach Carey, I pulled what Letterman referred to as “a Kathie Lee”. I showed him Timmy’s cross country times. “He’s only a freshman and these are his times? That’s excellent! You keep him going!” He told Tara that he followed Nassau County track so he’d keep his eye out. He’s the expert, so that meant the world to me. 

And I can’t talk about high school without mentioning a man I’ve spoken about on these pages many times. At 91 years young, Brother Robert Connolly is still going strong. Still sharp as a tack, still moving around well. Still the most brilliant person I’ve ever met. He showed Tara and I the new addition they put on to the cafeteria, a patio with a retractable roof. Brendan told Tara “There’s  two things they didn’t have when Billy and I went here. This patio and girls.” (McClancy went co-ed 10 years ago) 

And for an added bonus, I won one of the raffles. A basket filled with McClancy memorabilia, plus a bottle of wine that was made by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. 

It was great to be back. A really special night. 

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

My original plan was to watch the Jets game, write up this blogpost and post it Sunday night. The debacle that was both our teams losses though, killed that plan.

FOOTBALL- Jet, Giant disasters….

I didn’t get to watch the Giants game but I was following the score at the bottom of the screen. Interestingly, there was a debate last week over the Giants-Lions game fit the definition of a trap game. That is-a game against a lesser opponent, when the next game you have is against a rival or a big time opponent. There was an argument that the Lions were better than advertised and therefore not an inferior enough opponent that the Giants would look past them and forward to their Thanksgiving Day showdown vs the Cowboys. 

Well, we see how that turned out.

As for the game I did watch, the Jets vs. the Patriots, well, I’ve been reading and hearing about this being another edition of Bill Bellichick striking us in the heart once again. And that is total nonsense.

He had nothing to do with this one. The Jets lost because their playoff caliber defense couldn’t overcome their Pop Warner caliber offense. I have tried to be very patient with Zach Wilson, and I still believe he can be a really good quarterback in the NFL.  But a game like Sunday’s makes it very hard to defend him. Yes, he threw a couple of balls that should have been caught, but he also threw a couple of balls that should have been picked off, only to be dropped by the Pats defense. 

The game winning touchdown, scored on a punt return for crissakes, may have been aided by an illegal block to the back that wasn’t called (H/T to Joe Walsh and my sister Katie for pointing that out) but was mainly due to poor tackling, which also plagued the otherwise fantastic defense.  And although there is a lot I like about Rob Saleh, I didn’t really like the play-calling towards the end of the game. I realize that when it’s late in a game and you are tied or trailing, you have to throw the ball. But with Wilson clearly not having it, and with a timeout still to use, I thought the Jets should have run the ball more. Michael Carter and James Robinson had a couple of nice runs there, and the goal was to get into field goal range. A run, followed by Wilson spiking the ball, I thought could have gotten them into FG range. I realize that’s a classic second guess, but hey, what do I know right?

The Jets have made so much progress this year. Most of us didn’t think they could win 6 games all season, let alone 6 by Thanksgiving. But this is the kind of loss that can set your progress back a few pegs. They still have road games against the Bills and Dolphins and while they have beaten each team already once this year, can you see them winning against either one now? The Dolphins actually have a functioning QB and the Bills have perhaps a top 5 QB in the league. The Jets could have been in first place after Sunday, instead they are in the basement. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t see them climbing out of there again this season. 

UPDATE-The Jets announced on Wednesday afternoon that Zach Wilson has been deactivated for Sunday’s game against the Bears. Mike White will get the start. This has as much to do with Wilson’s lackluster performance as it does with the fact that he answered “no”  asked if he felt he let the defense down. 

Hate to break it to ya Zach. 

THE WORLD CUP- How Dry I Am? 

The World Cup, usually held in the early summer, instead starts this week because it’s being played in the Middle Eastern country of Qatar and the summer heat would have been too much. As it is, it’s still plenty warm down there.

Unfortunately the fans attending the games will not be able to cool off with an ice cold beer.

FIFA announced last week that they along with the government of Qatar, reversed their decision to allow beer sales at the 8 stadiums where the World Cup was being played. 

“Following discussions between host country authorities and FIFA, a decision has been made to focus the sale of alcoholic beverages on the FIFA fan festival, other fan destinations and licensed venues, removing sales points of beer from Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022 stadium perimeters.” 

Budweiser, who is perhaps the biggest sponsor of the tournament, to the tune of $75 million, also now has an issue of what to do with all the beer they have already shipped to Qatar and now cannot sell. 

UPDATE- Budweiser announced on Tuesday that all the beer originally sent to Qatar that will now not be sold there will instead be sent to whichever country wins the tournament. If ever there was an incentive to win! The US played to a 1-1 draw with Wales on Monday and now have to face mighty England on Friday. I’m guessing those Buds won’t be turning up on our shores, but hey, you never know. 

There were about a million reasons why having Qatar host the World Cup was a bad idea, the aforementioned weather being one, a slew of human rights violations against women, migrants and the LGBT community topping the list, but having to sit through 90+ minutes of low scoring soccer without the aid of an alcoholic  refreshment or two is just wrong.  

As for the tournament so far, Saudi Arabia pulled off what is being called one of the biggest upsets in history with their 2-1 victory over Argentina on Tuesday morning. I don’t think it was that big of a deal, the Saudis practically had home field advantage and let’s be honest, a much higher payroll than Argentina had. And as Mike Breen used to say, the game was a lot closer than the final score indicated. 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone! If you’re off on Friday, be careful if you decide to go shopping. Hopefully much of the Black Friday violence in years past has come and gone. 

Stay Safe

and Have a Great (rest of the) Week

*Tommy Maher may have been my all time favorite teacher. I spent most of the 2001 Hat Party with him reminiscing about our time at that school. We lost him in 2009, a loss that saddens me to this day. 

Weekly Mail November 13, 2022

 

Hey Everyone!

This past Friday was Veterans Day. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank all of those who served our nation. My favorite Vet was honored at his church on Sunday, this placard was put up in the vestibule along with those other members who served in the military. 

I say it every year..I was blessed to have two grandfathers who fought for America in WWII. My son is lucky to have both of his serve in Vietnam. We owe these brave men and women so much. One of the ways we show our gratitude is exercising our duty to vote.

And that is where we will start …

POLITICS: Election Day Round-up. 

When I signed into my Facebook on Wednesday morning before heading to work, I saw that I was being called a whole bunch of names.   Dope, idiot, dumb mofo, disgrace, etc. 

With friends like these, right?

Alas, these folks weren't necessarily calling me out by name per se, they didn't mention me at all in fact. However, these were the names they were calling those who voted for a particular candidate, or more to the point didn't vote for a particular candidate. 

And well, I did not in fact vote for who they wanted me to vote for, ergo, I was the idiot dope disgrace they were talking about. 

I stuck to my promise not to vote for anyone who supported Captain Orange's ridiculous claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.  So that eliminated Lee Zeldin as one of my choices for governor. 

Zeldin voted to overturn the election results in both Arizona and Pennsylvania, and this was after the terrorist attack on January 6, 2021. I wouldn't have voted him dogcatcher. I joined the rest of the Hochul Yokels and gave NY it's first duly elected female governor. 

Now, if it makes my friends on the right feel better, most of the other folks I voted for lost. Also it looks like the GOP is still going to take over the House, but not nearly as much as some were predicting. 

But to me the biggest and most hopeful story coming out of last Tuesday is that the Republicans seem to be looking to get away from Trump, perhaps looking towards someone else down in Florida to be the party's torchbearer. Especially after Dr. Oz', and the aforementioned Zeldin and a few others lost.  I saw Orange in a interview with News Nation say in regards to candidates he endorsed.. "Well, I think if they win I should get all the credit and if they lose I should not be blamed at all."  If Alec Baldwin went on SNL as Trump as said that line in a skit, Trump supporters would be up in arms, saying that they were trying to make Trump look foolish. You still think this guy gives a $h-t about anybody but himself? C'mon! 

The Democrats will retain control of the Senate, as the race in Nevada was called for Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto. They could make it 51-49.  Georgia is heading to a runoff between incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock, and former football star Herschel Walker. Walker at one of his rallies, said he would put his resume up against Barack Obama's, and I have to admit he may be onto something here. The first time I ever watched the Heisman Trophy Presentation, it was the year Herschel Walker won it.   To my knowledge, Obama never won the Heisman, so there's that. Otherwise, in Walker, we have a pro life candidate who paid for abortions, a family values candidate who has kids he doesn't support, and a law and order candidate who I'm sure had no issues with people storming the Capitol on January 6th.  

You want to know why I don't vote Republican anymore? Start there. 

SCAMS: $2 billion Powerball Winner..

I had a book as a kid called Aesop's Fables, a whole bunch of short stories with a lesson at the end. One of my favorites was The Fox and the Grapes, where a fox keeps trying to get grapes hanging from a tree. He runs and jumps but to no avail. Finally, he walks away figuring to himself, those grapes were probably sour anyway. (hence the term, sour grapes) The lesson at the end of the fable? Any fool can despise what he cannot get. 

Well, like the rest of us, I didn't win the Powerball last week. And while this fool won't sit here and talk about how he didn't need all that $$ anyway, I will ask this.. am I the only person who thinks this whole thing stinks like yesterday's trash?  

First of all, they were supposed to do the drawing at 10:59 PM EST on Monday, but because of a "glitch", the actual numbers weren't drawn till Tuesday morning, (while many of us were heading to the polls). 

And when they were drawn, of course, it was one winner. All those tickets sold, all that money, and one person won it? 

Just about every time there is a jackpot in excess of $500 million, one or two winning tickets are sold. That can't be a coincidence.

Now back to the glitch for a minute, according to the Post, there was an issue with the verification process in Minnesota.  They want to stick to that story, by all means. My guess is that they were checking their computers to see what combination of numbers were only produced once. And that took longer than expected. Hence the delay. 

And technically I guess there's nothing wrong with that, but the lottery I thought was designed that the numbers would be totally random. I just don't think that is what's happening. I think someone or some people know what numbers to draw. 

Can I prove any of this? No. I just can't believe that almost without fail one person wins these huge jackpots. 

LAWSUITS: Man or Machine?

In the category of rich people problems, a 68 year old former model is suing her ex boyfriend for harassment,  defamation and inducement. But the complaint that sticks out is that she claims her former lover demanded sex up to 10 times a day!! Oh, and BTW the former beau is 84 years young. 

Plaintiff was to be 100% his caregiver. He meant for plaintiff to be available for
all his sexual needs, to be his escort, do his laundry, cook his meals. (It turned out to mean
sexual intercourse, at times up to 10 times a day),” the suit says.

She actually put that in the complaint!

I mean, how does this get handled in court? I think if I'm the plaintiff counsel or the defendant counsel, shoot even if I'm the judge, my first question to the defendant is "10 times a day at 84 years old? How?" 

The plaintiff is Janet Bedin. It doesn't say in the lawsuit that he made her change her name to Inbed. (seewhatididthere?) The defendant, who might want to consider taking this act on the road, is Vito (the libido) Verni. 

I'm going to guess that Verni will plead not guilty to all the allegations against him, except for the part where she says he can do the Wild Thing 10 times a day. At least that's how I would have my peoples answer the complaint. 

On November 13, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence.

That request came from his wife.

When Karl (the Ace) Ludwig and I worked together for a spell, we turned 11/13 into an office holiday. So I figured I'd bring this classic out of mothballs for a few laughs. Especially after the Election cycle we just went through. 

Hope this gave you a chuckle. 

Stay Safe

and Have a Great Week 

Weekly Mail November 6, 2022

 

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

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