It’s Hailing Hot Dogs in Philly
We took off last week for Easter. I hope everybody had a great Easter/Passover.
The last couple of years, I was lucky enough to have all or most of Easter week off from work. This year I didn't, and of course wouldn't you know we had three days of summer like weather here in NY. Saturday naturally when I was off it was back to April showers.
I was off on Thursday the 6th, which was supposed to be Opening Day at Citi Field. But the night before, they made the decision to postpone it to Friday. This screwed me 9 ways to Sunday.
I had planned to put my car in the shop on Thursday and pretty much do stuff around the house, then either grill up some hot dogs for Timmy and I, or walk over to Nathan's. The next best thing to being therie in Flushing for Opening Day is relaxing in front of the TV at home.
But since someone decided to move the opener to Friday, it screwed up all my plans. Friday that week happened to be Good Friday, which meant no Hot Dogs. (We’ll have more about hot dogs later) All the stuff I put off till Friday, I now had to scramble to do and still hopefully catch most of the game.
What was worse, there wasn't a drop of rain on Thursday. In fact the temperature had gotten into the 70's on Thursday while barely getting to 60 on Friday.
On WFAN, Evan Roberts suggested that the Mets, having come off an absolute a$$-beating in Milwaukee, did this to give their beleaguered pitching an extra day of rest. The team insisted that they had forecasts suggesting torrential rain and felt they were doing the right thing by not letting their fans sit through a rain delay in April.
I get all that, but shoot, if you are going to make a move like that, you better make sure that it actually rains that day. I know weather forecasters are more often accurate than not, but whoever the Mets were using wasn't even close.
It was aggravating and embarrassing. Again.
POLITICS: Trump Indicted:
I didn't bother with a special on Saturday night, mainly because I didn't really feel like pouring over the indictment if I'm being totally honest here. Even as I write this today, I still haven't delved into enough of it to give you my $0.02 about it. So, I'll get into what I did observe..
1) The coverage on the cable news networks was as usual, over the top. I read that CNN followed Captain Orange as he got into his limo at Mar-A-Lago, rode with his motorcade to the airport in West Palm Beach, watched as he and his staff boarded Air Trump, and watched the plane take off.
Then they had another crew on the ground here in NY as the plane landed at LaGuardia Airport. he got off the plane, got into his car, and they followed him all the way to Trump Tower. That was Monday.
The next day it was the same thing... Out of Trump Tower, into his limo downtown to the courthouse. When it was over, they followed him by helicopter from the courthouse to LaGuardia. I saw the highlights, can you imagine sitting there and watching all that?
2) When he was being led into the courtroom, the court officer let the door go. A couple of commentators pointed out that the officer didn't hold the door for the former President. I don't know if I ever saw that before. Actually I remember one time George W. Bush was exiting a stage, and couldn't get the door open. Pretty sure that was in China.
3) I thought this was funny... the pea-brained attention whore representing the 14th congressional district in Georgia came to our fair city to show support for Orange. In an interview later on, she called New York "a terrible place" Said Seth Meyers on his late night TV show.. "Joke's on you...because once you think that, you are officially a New Yorker."
She's the most repulsive person from Georgia since John Rocker, racist sacks of $hit, the two of them.
To sum up, in doing a little bit of research on this whole deal, I mean, there is no doubt Trump paid this gal off to keep quiet, and I'm fairly certain he used campaign funds to do it. I'm no legal eagle, and I've read in different places that DA Alvin Bragg may have a hard time proving that what Trump did was technically against the law. On the other hand, I'm not buying the whole, "This is just emboldening him and his supporters crap" either His supporters are going to support him no matter what he does. For f-cks sake, he tried to overturn an election and incited a terrorist attack against the US Capitol. You think his paying off some floozy so that she wouldn't rat him out to his wife is going to move the needle here? C'mon!
We'll see how this all turns out.
HOCKEY/BASKETBALL: Playoff Preview:
All 5 of the NYC area winter pro sports teams made the playoffs this year. That hasn't happened since 1994. Obviously if things turn out like 1994 here in NY, I'll be quite happy.
But if I'm being honest here, all 5 teams have a very tough road to hoe here. The Rangers and Devils are about as evenly matched as you can be. I think the Rangers have a slight edge in goal, and I'm hoping that the experience of playing 20 playoff games last year, with the additions of Vladimir Tarasenko (2019 Cup Winner) and Patrick Kane (3 time Cup winner) gives them an edge over the playoff novice Devils. But Jack Hughes is a stud, and if he gets hot and the goalie plays well, it could be lights out early. The Rangers could win the Stanley Cup or be on the golf course by next week. I realize that's a cop out, but that's just how tight the competition is.
The Islanders scrapped into the playoffs, and while they are pretty heavy underdogs to the Carolina Hurricanes, stranger things have happened before. I've seen teams that had to fight to get in make strong, deep playoff runs. It stands to reason, as they have technically been in playoff mode for a few weeks now. It's not like they have to ratchet things up.
And while I have a very hard time seeing anybody beating the Bruins 4 times out of 7 games, that too has happened, in the not too distant past. Remember, the record the Bruins just beat was held by the 2019 Tampa Bay Lightning, who after winning 62 games and accumulating 128 points, proceeded to get swept in the first round by the Columbus Blue Jackets. I'll be shocked if the Florida Panthers pull that off, but also recall who won the President's Trophy last year. That's right, the Panthers.
As for the NBA, the Knicks are playing Cleveland in the first round, while the Nets take on the Sixers.
Game 1 for the Knicks in Cleveland was a nail biter, but they managed to hang on and win 101-97. It was the first time they had won a Game 1 in the playoffs since 1999. Of course, they haven’t played that many playoff games on the road or otherwise since 1999. But they looked pretty good Saturday night. Contributions all around.
I didn’t see the Nets- Sixers Game 1, but given that Philly won by 20, I’d say the boys from Brooklyn have their work cut out for them.
PROMOTIONS GONE AWRY: Phillies Hot Dog Night
The Philadelphia Phillies back on April 11th held a Dollar Dog night promotion at Citizens Bank Ballpark. Fans could purchase a tube steak for $1.00, where one would normally cost $4.00 or so.
At first the 3 buck incentive seemed to be a success, as the stadium sold out on a chilly Tuesday night against the lowly Miami Marlins.
But this is Philly we are talking about here, and as the Marlins were putting the finishing touches on an 8-4 win over the defending National League champs, fans were taking their dollar dogs and throwing them at each other, turning Citizens Bank Ballpark into the cafeteria at Faber College.
The night I went to see Razor Ray McGarvey and the Cooper Union Pioneers play at the Brendan Byrne Arena (what I like to refer to as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre-1995 version) they had $1.00 hot dogs, which to be honest was the second biggest thrill for me that night, (seeing my best bud playing on an NBA court was obviously number one) Ed (Auggie) DePuy claims I put away “about 47 $1.00 hot dogs” that night. It was more like 5 or 6, but if he wants to tell my grandkids that I made like Joey Chestnut, well I won’t stop him.
The civilized folks of East Rutherford didn’t toss their dollar dogs onto the court, even when things got tense between the Pioneers and Pratt Institute. But remember, they booed Santa Claus in Philly once, so I guess we have to factor that in too. They are planning two more Hot Dog nights soon. Let’s hope cooler heads prevail when it comes to the hot dogs.
That’s all we got this week folks.
Stay Safe
and Have a Great Week
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