Mike Tyson, Rosie Perez and Jake Paul
Hi Everyone:
I haven't spent much time on social media the past two weeks.. well, let me rephrase that. I haven't spent much time posting on social media the past two weeks. I acknowledged Veteran's Day, and I acknowledged some birthdays. I've gone out of my way to avoid politics, either posting, or commenting or even liking certain posts. This blogpost as well, will be politics free.
That will change on Tuesday.
On Tuesday night, two weeks post-election day, I will publish my election wrap up special. And let's just say, the gloves will officially come off.
Two weeks ago, we published our election preview. And I wanted to write about the World Series. Last week I took off to spend some time with my best buds out near the Hamptons. We had dinner at a BBQ place, then found a dive bar down the block. It was like old times, and the three of us had some rippin hangovers on Sunday. So writing was out of the question.
Time to play catch up...
WORLD SERIES WRAP UP
On WFAN’s Evan and Tiki show, both Evan Roberts and producer Shaun Morash, at different times, have referred to themselves as IBO’s. Usually they are discussing basketball so it’s independent basketball observers (neither one of them are Knicks fans) but it also works for baseball too.
Since my Mets were sent packing by the Dodgers a few weeks ago, I’ve become an independent baseball observer. Yes, I was pulling for the Yankees in this 2024 World Series, but no my heart and soul and emotions weren’t in it nearly as much as they would have been had the Mets been in there. That probably goes without saying, but I figured it’s worth a mention.
So having watched all but Game 1 of this recently completed Fall Classic, I feel I can safely say to my friends across the proverbial baseball aisle, I feel your pain.
Because the last two times my Mets were able to make it to the Series, they have lost In eerily similar fashion to how the Yanks lost this one to the Dodgers.
Bone-headed base running, sloppy fielding, a leaky bullpen, a lack of fundamentals, getting to the big stage and shitting the bed, acting like they basic rules of the game are different just because there is some extra bunting around the stadium.
Go back and look at the 2000 Subway World Series and the 2015 World Series against the Royals. In both instances, the Mets did themselves in with all the above mentioned issues. In 2000, both rookie Timo Perez and to me more egregiously veteran Todd Zeile made baserunning blunders in Game 1 that the team was never able to recover from.
In 2015 it was poor relief pitching in Game 1, and poor fielding in Game 5 that handed KC the commissioner's trophy on a silver platter. The Mets had those games in the bag but for the disturbing lack of fundamentals.
All that was on display here for the Yankees, especially in Game 5.
Aaron Judge misplaying a routine fly ball, Justin Volpe not making a strong throw to third, Gerrit Cole not covering first base (or Anthony Rizzo not being more aggressive). The game went from 5-0 and as Aaron Boone said during his dugout interview at the time "back on the bird" to LA, to a 5-5 tie and eventual 7-6 loss.
As an IBO, it's easy for me to tell you, the Yankee fan to ease up on Aaron Judge, for you would not have made the playoffs, much less gotten to the World Series without his accomplishments. He put up near Triple Crown numbers, was 5 homers short of breaking the American League Home Run record (which he currently owns) and really seems like a genuinely good guy.
But I also know that after Artemi Panarin had an awesome MVP type regular season, his production slipped as the NHL Playoffs progressed to the point where he was nowhere to be found in the ECF's. I need the Breadman, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad to score in June like they do in October. You guys need Judge to hit in October like he does in June.
See, I get it.
I'm also curious to hear your thoughts on the Yanks not getting swept. For some, it was a small consolation that they won Game 4. "At least we didn't get swept." I heard from some precincts. For others, especially the World Champs or Bust crowd" it didn't matter.
So, you can't go by me, but I'm at the point where a 5 game loss in a championship series is worse than a sweep, ok not worse but definitely just as bad.
It's as pathetic as it sounds, I know. But in the past 25 years, I have had 4 teams advance to the championship rounds of their sports.
1999 Knicks
2000 Mets
2014 Rangers
2015 Mets
All of them lost. In 5 games.
The Knicks, and the two Mets teams lost the first two on the road, won Game 3, and lost games 4 and 5 at home. The 2014 Rangers lost the first three games, (two of them in double OT) won Game 4 at home, then lost the Cup on the road in Game 5 (also in double OT FWIW). The last team of mine to NOT lose in 5 games was the 1994 Knicks, who thanks to John Starks, and Pat Riley, lost Game 7 to the Rockets in Houston.
So to me losing in 5 games is as bad as getting swept. But as my (Yankee fan) wife likes to say to me, "That's your issue pal."
Yep.
I didn't think the Mets were going to have a winning record, much less make the playoffs and get to the LCS. And most Yankee fans I know weren't feeling too hot in July and August as their lead in the AL East dwindled. But alas they both made the playoffs, both went on nice runs and both ultimately lost to a juggernaut.
It sucks. And for the Yankee fan friends and family of mine who supported my Mets, I say to you thank you and also to hold your heads high. Getting to the Series is an accomplishment. And you gave NY an extra week of fun.
H/T to my sister-in-law Kerry for this article about how us fans seem to be getting along better these days.
And for the ones who broke my balls. (and there were very very few of you.) I leave you with this..
At least we got 2 off of 'em.
P.S. I hope no matter who you were rooting for in the World Series, that you found what those two fans did to Mookie Betts was deplorable. Any fan who puts his hands on an athlete deserves what they get, whether that means a lifetime ban from the stadium, or having Mike Milbury beat you with your own shoe, (actually, Milbury went into the stands to do that, so that's a bad example). Fans need to keep their hands to themselves and athletes need to stay out of the stands.
BOXING (if you want to call it that)- Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson
I let Timmy rope me in to watching this disaster.
I know, blaming my 16 year old kid for this shows a complete lack of guts on my part. The truth of the matter is, many different outlets were hyping up this match, and with everything else going on, the trip back to the golden days of yesteryear was a welcome respite.
And no, I'm not talking just about watching Tyson get into the ring again. I'm talking about growing up in the 70's and 80's and even into the 90's where big time championship fights had some real buzz.
The middleweight division in the 1980's had as much glamour and buzz as the heavyweight division, and in the years immediately before Tyson's emergence, even more so. Between Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas (the Hit Man) Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Roberto Duran, there were a slew of tremendous fights between the four of them. Duran and Leonard fought in the famous "no mas" fight in 1980. (Duran uttering that phrase seemingly out of nowhere in quitting in the 8th round). Then Hagler and Hearns fought the greatest fight I've ever seen, beating the crap out of each other for three rounds before Hagler knocked the Hitman out. Hearns and Leonard started and ended the 80's decade with a pair of classics, the latter of which ended in a draw, Perhaps the most famous and controversial of all was Hagler and Leonard's 1987 bout, which Leonard won in a controversial decision and also drove Marvelous Marvin into retirement.
Those fights were not only great fights, but the hype and buzz were similar to Super Bowls. you kinda had to be there to know what I mean.
And of course, when Tyson fought it was always an event. In the summer of 1986, my parents were going to a wedding, and they dropped my sisters and I at my grandmother's house. ABC's Wide World of Sports was going to show Mike Tyson fight against Marvis Frazier, (son of former champ Smokin Joe Frazier). We left about 20 minutes before the fight was scheduled to start, I figured I catch the 2nd or 3rd round. By the time I got to my grandma's house, not only was the fight over, the arena was empty and they were scrambling to find something else to show on WW of S. Tyson knocked Fraizer the younger out in 30 seconds. If you sneezed, you missed it.
And this was before Tyson was the champ. All of Tyson's fights were big deals after that.
So yeah, besides Timmy telling me we could watch this on Netflix, I guess I got caught up in the nostalgia of how much fun the lead up to those great fights were.
Now, at the risk of sounding like a Monday Morning Quarterback, I had no illusions that Tyson was going to come out and knock this kid into next week, the way some people were predicting. The last time I saw Tyson fight was in 2002 against Lenox Lewis, and while Lewis could make any fighter look bad, he made Tyson look awful. If he was that bad 22 years ago at age 36, what made anyone think he'd be any good at 58?
I've seen Jake Paul fight a couple of times, and considering he's only taken up the sport very recently, he's not bad. Don't get me wrong, the pre prison, Kevin Rooney trained, Bill Cayton-Jimmy Jacobs managed Mike Tyson would have done to Jake Paul what he did to poor Marvis Fraizer back in 1986. In fact any decent boxer back then would probably have no issues fighting Jake Paul. But no sport has suffered such a loss of significance as has the sport of boxing. As Karl (the Ace) Ludwig asked in our production meeting on Friday night before the big fight, Does anybody actually know who the heavyweight champion of the world is? There was a time, as I've heard many old timers say, that you could name the heavyweight champion of the world, just as quickly as you could name the President of the United States or (if you were catholic) the Pope.
Jake and his brother Logan Paul, are apparently a couple of dudes who got famous by making You Tube Videos, in other words, kind of like the Kardashians and the Hiltons, famous for being famous. A lot of people don't care for the Brothers Paul for just that reason. I guess why there was so much hope that Tyson would find the fountain of youth and send this punk back to making You Tube Videos. But alas, in one of the most insomnia curing fights I have ever seen, (I literally fell asleep at least twice during the bout), Paul won a unanimous decision. One judge gave Paul all 8 rounds and the other two giving Tyson one round.
Besides the boring fight, the other complaint I saw (and I was kind of glad it wasn't just me) was Netflix's glitchy production. Several times, the picture froze and was buffering. I thought it was my Wi-Fi or that I forgot to pay my cable bill, but no it was happening to everybody. If they are going to do more live sports, they better FITFO soon.
I also thought the announcers left a lot to be desired. The blow-by-blow guy, Mauro Ranallo, was particularly annoying. Phil Mushnick likes to complain about announcers who scream on every play, his two biggest offenders in that category are (Hollerin) Kevin Harlan and Gus Johnson. This dude made those two guys sound like Andy Warhol. The only thing that kept me from falling completely into La La land during the fight was Ranallo screaming at the top of his lungs, and Timmy laughing at his old man passed out on the couch. I should have known this guy was a clown when he claimed that this was the biggest event he had ever covered, surpassing his original BEEC, WrestleMania 32, coincidentally also held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX.
The two commentators were Roy Jones Jr., fair enough, and you're reading this right, actress Rosie Perez. Many years ago, my dad and I were watching a Met game on WHT, a movie network that also carried all Islander home games and occasional Met and Yankee Sportschannel Simulcasts. The Met game got rained out and they instead showed the famous Mohammed Ali-Chuck Wepner fight that legend has it inspired Sylvester Stallone to pen the script for Rocky. In any event, the blow-by-blow announcer for that fight was Bob Sheridan. The commentators were Red Foxx and James Brown! Fred Sanford himself, and the only other time I saw James Brown involved in boxing was when he sang Living in America before the ill-fated Apollo Creed Ivan Drago fight. So, having actors calling fights is not a new thing, but still Rosie Perez? That went about as well as you might have imagined.
Kate Scott hosted the "studio show" between fights. Father forgive me for saying this, but she is very easy on the eyes, and has a sexy British accent to boot. Amir Tyson, Mike's son, was on the panel with Scott, and also interviewed his dad before the fight. After a couple of softball questions, Amir thanked his dad, to which Mike replied, I love you son and gave Amir a kiss. It was actually a very heartfelt moment, till the elder Tyson walked away to reveal his shorts were cut out in the back, revealing his 58-year-old ass to all viewers. That would have been a good time for the Netflix picture to go blank.
The co-main event was a super lightweight championship bout between champion Katie Taylor from Ireland and Amanda Serrano of Puerto Rico. Now this was entertaining, both fighters threw good solid punches and there was plenty of action. Taylor won and retained her title by a single point. Many felt Serrano was robbed, and though I was pulling for Taylor I can’t say I blame them.
FOOTBALL- NY Disasters
On December 20, 1969, the Jets lost a playoff game to the eventual Super Bowl Champs Kansas City Chiefs 13-6, at Shea Stadium. That would mark the last playoff game either one of our teams would play in until 1981. Indeed no NY football team played in an NFL playoff game during the 70’s. That is almost hard to imagine.
And yet, I believe we are living in an era that even dwarfs that 12 year run of ineptitude.
I know, I know, the Giants had that playoff win against the Vikings two years ago. I’m not taking that away from them, except to say this.. off that one game, the Giants gave Daniel Jones a huge contract. And that contract is now looking like one of the worst deals in the nfl.
But it not the worst
No that would be the contract given to Aaron Rodgers of my NY Jets, who are as far as I’m concerned the worst team in the NFL. I don’t give a shit if there are teams with worse records, the Jets are the most poorly run, poorly coached, underachieving overrated overpaid franchise perhaps in North American team sports.
Last week, the Giants lost to the team I previously figured was the worst team in football, the Carolina Panthers, in Munich. (Someone suggested to Mike Vaccaro that sending the Giants and Panthers to Germany could be viewed as an international act of aggression) The talk began of perhaps the Giants tanking for a better draft pick.
Well now I think the Jets should join them. Because at least then we can spend part of April guessing which bust they will both draft in the first round. It beats the hell of watching either one of them try to play competitive football.
As bad as the Jets no show loss in Arizona was last week, their loss to the Colts at the Meadowlands on Sunday was worse. Indy did everything but hand them the game on a platter, and the Jets said no thank you. The Jets tried that ridiculous play where you try to draw the other team off sides (a play that only seems to work when someone tries it on the Jets) and instead of taking the penalty and kicking the FG, Aaron Rodgers called time out. A time out the Jets could have used after their overrated defense allowed the Colts to march down the field and take the lead.
Both teams are very dangerously close to pushing both of their fan bases into apathy. Want to know what’s worse for a franchise than listening to fans calling into WFAN and woofing on the team? Listening to fans calling into WFAN and talking about other teams. The reason there are so many Cowboys, Steelers, and Raiders fans around here is that NY fans adopted other teams during that long post season drought in the 70’s. We are well on our way to that happening again.
And it would serve both of our franchises right. Because both of them are a disgrace.
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WEATHER-No Rain
And I don't understand why I sleep all day
And I start to complain
That there's no rain-
From No Rain-by Blind Mellon
Got this alert on my phone last Saturday....
So there's your answer my friends. What was the question? The question was after terrorist attacks, superstorms, pandemics and Choking Smog caused by Canadian forest fires, what was the next calamity to strike our fair city? If you had a drought, congratulations!
Per nbcnewyork.com...
Since 1869, when records started being collected in Central Park, we have never gone an entire calendar month without measurable rain. On Tuesday, 29 days into the month, we finally managed to accumulate the minimum amount of measurable rain: 0.01 inches.
That’s all we’re going to get for the month, and it makes Oct. 2024 the driest calendar month on record, edging out June 1949, when we got 0.02 inches.
The good news is that we have had some really spectacular days here. And not to keep bringing this back to sports, but how many times have the Mets (or more to the point-the Yankees) have had playoff games rained out? In 1986, the rain nearly screwed the Mets. Game 7 of the WS was supposed to be on Sunday, against Oil Can Boyd, who we had hit around pretty well in Game 3. But the rain pushed it back to Monday, giving Bruce Hurst an extra day of rest, so he could go in Game 7 instead of the Can. Fortunately we figured out how to hit Hurst, something we couldn't figure out in Games 1 and 4.
I know the Yanks had rainouts in 96 and a couple in 98.
My sister pointed out that the last day it really rained was September 29, the day her and Tim watched the Jet game at Met Life Stadium. There was enough rain that day for three weeks. But now it’s been over a month.
Anyway, October is usually pretty wet around here. Not so much this year and already it's causing issues. There were several forest fires in New Jersey, and a major brush fire at Inwood Park in Upper Manhattan. Add me to the list of people who never equated Manhattan with brush fires. But like I always say, if it can happen it will happen.
They pumped water from the Harlem River to put out the fire. I get it could have been worse, they could have used the putrid East River water to do the job.
In any event, we need to have some rain here. Or else we'll have more forest fires in places we didn't realize had forests. And instead of getting choked by smoke from Canadian Wildfires, we'll get choked by our own wildfires. And we'll all have to wear masks and get pissed off and the wheels of the bus go round and round, round and round.
All I can say
Is that my life is pretty plain
You don't like my point of view
You think that I'm insane
It's not sane... it's not sane.
Wait till Tuesday if you think I'm not sane now.
Election Special Coming Tuesday at 8 PM EST on Facebook. Till then..
Stay Safe
and Have a Great Week.
