Hey:
If you may recall, two years ago Tim and I had an appointment to see the Dr.
That was Dr. Cool Jay Klang of Hollywood Coolafornia, the man who asked us all "what's crack-a-lackin?"
Dr. Cool as they say in pro wrestling parlance, "turned heel" and re-invented himself as "The Artist" Jake Lang. This presented a bit of a conundrum for us- and I'll get to that in a bit.
For the first issue we encountered as we got to the Knights of Columbus in Lynbrook was that the line to get in stretched across the parking lot, and those who were already standing in line were wearing either something to do with wrestling, or something to do with the Islanders, who at that point were leading my beloved Rangers 3-1 in the first period of their Stadium Series game at Met Life Stadium. I thought it would be a good idea to wear my Hendrik Lundquist jersey.
So now I was perhaps the lone Ranger fan amongst a lot full of Islander fans, coming to root on the bad guy in a Create-A-Pro wrestling match. I may as well have attached a "Kick Me" sign to the seat of my trousers.
There was a kid and his dad standing in front of us. The boy was about Timmy's age, but he had a mullet and looked like the little kid from The Gremlins (played by a young Corey Feldman). He was going back in forth with one of the characters who was outside with us in the lot.
Then when we finally got to our seats, there was a dude in his late 20's who first complemented me on my jersey, but also took a second out of his busy day to tell me that the Rangers were losing. I thanked him for the update and prayed he'd find someone else to chat with.
The Artist, who was also the current CAP TV World Champion, came out to defend his title amongst a chorus of boos. I was sitting near his mom, who I've known since I was 5 years old and his dad. They were rooting for The Artist, so Tim and I cheered along.
Now there's a school of thought that says that by booing, you are actually helping develop the character. Jen (Jake's Mom) told me that there are people in the family who boo and jeer just like the rest of the crowd. I thought about doing that myself.. I mean, we were booing Jake per se, just the character he was portraying.
But like I said, Jen's been like my big sister forever. Her brother is Karl (the Ace) Ludwig, who along with (Razor) Ray McGarvey, I have been friends with since kindergarten. I couldn't boo him, no matter how much he was askin' for it.
Indeed after he won and was getting booed, he lifted up his title belt and shouted "I have this, what do you all have?"
He's damn good at what he does.
Tim and I later met up with Ed (Auggie) DePuy and his boys Brendan and James. We watched a few more matches then the 5 of us headed out to dinner in Lynbrook. A fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon/evening.
Oh and BTW? The Rangers came back and won that game in OT. I didn't have the heart to tell that dude who had been sitting next to me.
So speaking of hockey, as promised, here is our look at (IMHO) the 6 teams that matter around here. (No offense to fans of Fordham or Hofstra or any of the other local schools)
THE RANGERS- 39-16-3- 1st Place Metropolitan Division- They started off red-hot, cooled off before the All-Star break, and now are once again red hot. Artemi Panarin has been their best player, they have gotten the usual excellent play from Chris Krieder and Mika Zabanejad, and Adam Fox was hurt for a while but is back to Quaterbacking the power play and providing a point a game pace as a defenseman. They have also gotten key contributions from almost everybody.
Where they have struggled though has been playing defensive hockey and surprisingly, goaltending. Igor Shesterkin has been very up and down this year, at times he really hasn't looked like himself. The team picked up Jonathan Quick in the off-season, the Kings believing that his best days were clearly behind him. But at times he's looked better than Shesterkin. They need Shesterkin to be more consistent and their defense to step up if they want to contend for the Cup. I love their record so far, but I've also seen this movie before.
THE ISLANDERS- 23-20-14 6th Place Metropolitan Division- Up 4-1 and 5-3 against the Rangers last week, the Isles ended up losing in OT 6-5. These results have been more the rule than the exception for them. Indeed they have had 21 games go into overtime this season. They have 14 OT losses, meaning they have gotten 14 points, but in many of those games, they held leads. Had they been able to lock some of those games down, they would have a playoff berth within their grasp.
They made a coaching change recently, bringing in Patrick Roy to try to steer the ship back, but it seems like the same deal. They have the talent, many of the guys who got them to the ECF in 20 and 21 are still there, but too many heartbreaking losses are looking to do them in.
THE DEVILS- 29-24-4 4th Place Metropolitan Division- I once saw Browning Nagle and the Jets complete a 5-0 preseason, only to go 4-12 in the regular season. I should have known remembered right there not to put too much stock in any sport's pre-season. But the Devils looked like world beaters coming out of the NHL preseason, and after how they handled my Rangers in the previous spring's playoffs, it was reasonable to think they might take the next step and contend for the division title.
The Devils were wracked with injuries including two stints on the injury list for Jack Hughes, who, when healthy is a stud. Timo Meier has missed a bunch of games as well. If they can get and stay healthy, they could make the playoffs and make some noise once they get there. That's a bunch of ifs.
THE KNICKS- 34-23 2nd Place Atlantic Division- The Knicks have pulled off two trades this season, one I was a bit critical of and one I loved. So far both have worked out well. The first deal was sending RJ Barrett and Imanuel Quickey plus a high 2nd round pick to Toronto for OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, and Malachi Flynn. As much as I criticized the deal, saying the Knicks gave up too much, they ended up winning 10 of the first 12 games played after the deal went down. Plus two of the three players they received were top contributors. Now Anunoby and Julius Randle have both been out with injuries, so Donte Divincenzo, who they traded Obi Toppin to make room for, (another deal I killed) Miles (Deuce) McBride and most of all, team MVP Jalen Brinson stepped up and kept the good times going.
The second trade the Knicks made was with the Pistons, dealing Quentin Grimes, seldom used Evan Fournier, the aforementioned Flynn, Ryan Arcidiacono and a couple of low 2nd round picks, in exchange for Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks. Bogdanovic can start and score till Randle and/or Anunoby come back, and Burks is a solid role player. Like the devils, it a lot depends on if they can get back and keep their guys healthy, but if they do, the sky is the limit. Besides the Celtics, nobody else in the East remotely resembles a powerhouse.
THE NETS-21-34 4th Place Atlantic Division- The Nets at the All-Star Break fired their coach Jacques Vaughn, which caused Christopher (Mad Dog) Russo on ESPN's First Take, to demand to know how GM Sean Marks was spared the same fate.
The other panelists on the show Stephen A. Smith and JJ Reddick pointed out what a pile of poop Marks inherited and said that based on what he has done to pull the franchise from that abyss, deserves a shot to turn them around again. I do appreciate what he had done, but still the whole Durant, Kyrie Harden experiment gone wrong happened on his watch, and the parts he received back from dealing those guys away have not paid off. Obviously, the jury is still out on some of the draft capital, but there a big part of me that things Russon wasn't that far off base. This coach, Kevin Ollie is an interim coach, meaning if he doesn't work out, Marks gets to make another coaching hire. Has he really earned that? I'm not as sure as others that he has.
ST JOHN'S-16-12 overall; 8-9 8th Place Big East Conference
"If I said I was disappointed, that would be the understatement of the year. Our lateral quickness and our toughness is just something I've never witnessed in all my years of coaching. This is the most unenjoyable experience of my lifetime."
"We are so nonathletic that we can't guard anybody without fouling. ... And really it's not about losing. Even winning, when I watch the film, I see unathletic plays, I see people that don't handle the ball, that are just interested in taking quick shots. It's been a disappointing year."
“Do we have sh-tty facilities? Yes, we do. But we’re doing something about that. But that’s not the reason we’re losing. Having sh-tty facilities has nothing to do with guarding.”
We kind of lost this season with the way we recruited. We recruited the antithesis of the way I coach. It’s a good group, they try hard, but they’re just not very tough … It’s not the job. You could be at Missouri and recruit slow players. Believe me, it’s not St. John’s.
“We had to put together a team at the last second. We will never, ever do that again.”
-Rick Pitino after St. John's blew a huge lead and lost to Seton Hall.
Well then....
My first reaction when I heard Pitino go off about his non-athletic players was to recall a scene recreated in the Bill Madden/Moss Klein book Damned Yankees about the George Steinbrenner Era (Parts I and II). Steinbrenner was ripping then manager Yogi Berra about the state of the team and Steinbrenner kept saying to Yogi and his coaches "These are the players you wanted"
After the third of fourth time George said that Yogi exploded.. "This isn't my bleeping team, it's your bleeping team. You make all the bleeping decisions. You make all the bleeping moves. You get all the bleeping players that nobody wants. Then you just sit back and wait for us to lose so you can blame everybody else because you are a chicken sh-t liar!"
Someone else picked these players for St. Johns? I don't think so, in fact Pitino got rid of all but two of the guys who played for Mike Andrson last year. Sh-tty facilities? This was a news flash? They've had sh-tty facilities since Lou Carnesecca was the coach. The draw to St. John's is that you are a car ride away from Manhattan and you get to play at MSG. And we recruited the antithesis to the way I coach? again, who was in charge of the recruiting? Who's the guy making the big mamoo?
Pitino was rightly taken to the proverbial woodshed for these comments and has since apologized somewhat. I still think he can turn this team around and get them back to the big dance, but he may want to take a look at as Bill Parcells used to say, the man in the glass.
Nice win against Creighton today.
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ELECTION 2024-
Captain Orange was projected on Saturday to win the South Carolina Primary. CNN, Fox and MSNBC called it as soon as the polls closed Saturday at 7 PM. I saw Woody Johnson standing there while Orange was babbling on. I hope he does something useful while he's down there like finding us a serviceable quaterback.
Back to Trump for a minute- I kind of ran out of time last week so I didn't get to discuss the $350 million or so he was fined by Judge Arthur Engoron in his civil business fraud case. (The total with interest has risen to $424 million). Trump also cannot conduct business in NY for three years.
He's looking for any way possible to get out of paying, and of course some of his more (I'll be nice here) fervent supporters are crying foul and are threatening to themselves not do business in New York. These include some truckers who well need to be filled in that the products they are carrying are not theirs to decide whether they should be delivered to NYC or not.
Trump can appeal the ruling, but still has to post a bond for the full amount of damages.
As for the whole Fani Willis mess in Georgia, I watched some of those proceedings. To me it's not going to change the fact that Trump and his cronies tried to illegally overturn the election results down there. "Find me 11,780 votes" is pretty much the textbook definition of election interference, but from what I saw of the Fani Willis hearings, it was just lawyers talking to lawyers the way lawyers talk to each other. It brought back memories of Bill Clinton vs Ken Starr and not just because both cases involved allegedly inappropriate relationships. Just the whole, "You said this." No I said this but this means that" everybody trying to outwit and outspeak the other. I really don't know how that's going to turn out, but if Trump walks on the lection interference because of Fani Willis and Nathan Wade having a relationship, that would just be wrong.
Think that’s all we got this week my friends.
Stay Safe
and Have a Great Week
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