Weekly Mail April 28, 2024

 

Hi Everyone:

Sorry I didn't publish last week. I've been teasing a special about sports gambling in relation to a book I read about Pete Rose last month. I started writing it last week and realized I had a lot more work to do on it. So I'm kind of still putting that all together. Hopefully I'll get that out in that not-too-distant future. 

But First and Foremost........

RUNNING FOR REBECCA 

I apologize for not sending this out as soon as Katie announced it, but once again we are Running for Rebecca at (the artist formerly known as) Maurice Park on May 16, 2024. You are all welcome to come and or you can donate to Team Weekly Mail at the below link. 

https://www2.heart.org/site/TR/HeartWalk/FDA-FoundersAffiliate?px=17407286&pg=personal&fr_id=9845

Any questions, please feel free to hit me up on FB or at WildWill45@aol.com.

Thank you all so much. 

 Let's get to what be happenin now. 

CAMPUS PROTEST: Mass protests have broken out on college campuses all over the country. Here in NY, the biggies have been at Columbia University and NYU. 

Columbia's president Nemat Shefik testified before a House committee investigating antisemitism on college campuses. This ramped up the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia. 

According to CNN.com.....

Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia said they won’t disperse until the school agrees to cut ties with Israeli academic institutions and commits to a “complete divestment” of its funds from entities connected to Israel, among other demands.

Protesters at other campuses are making similar demands, calling on campuses to divest from companies that sell weapons, construction equipment, technology services and other items to Israel.

Columbia officials warned earlier this week that the encampment violate school rules but did not provide specific disciplinary consequences. Officials also pushed back on assertions from protesters that the school threatened it would bring in the National Guard to help address the pro-Palestinian protest encampment.

Columbia University has a history of famous student protests. It was a hotbed of protest during the Vietnam War, scores of protestors occupied various campus buildings including the Dean's office. 

I only participated in one protest when I was in college, big radical that I am, On March 23, 1995 I went down to City Hall to protest the proposed CUNY budget cuts. I had classes in the morning, then I drove home and took the 7 train to Grand Central and the 6 down to City Hall. A couple of guys I knew from the Newman Center were planning to get arrested. I kept singing "I'm gonna get myself, gonna get myself, gonna get myself arrested." to the tune of Connected by Stereo MC's, all while making sure I didn't run into the two dudes who were planning just that. It was Thursday, which meant Friends, Seinfeld and Karaoke night at Donovan's, and I really didn't want to miss any of that because I was cooling my jets in a jail cell. 

My main goal that day, as it was for pretty much the entirety of 1995*, was to meet women, and to that end, I was in a coffee shop around 4 PM that had NY1 on. The reporter on scene at City Hall was quoting Mayor Guliani as saying that "all these protestors should be in class instead of out here protesting."  Not that I wasn't genuinely annoyed at how tone deaf he was to the situation**, but I also thought that would be a great ice breaker to the table of ladies having a post-protest snack. 

"Can you believe Guliani said we all should be in class instead of protesting? If he gets his way, we won't be able to afford to go to class!" I exclaimed to the table of my fellow protestors of the female persuasion. 

They all agreed and offered their $0.02 on the situation. I sat down at a booth across from them and talked about our experiences that afternoon. When I offered them to come to Donovan's for further discussions over drinks and karaoke, they politely but firmly, um, declined. 

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

I don't remember how everything turned out, I'm sure eventually the cuts came and maybe they weren't as severe as originally proposed. I don't remember if my pals from the Newman Center got busted or not. I don't even remember what songs I sang at Donovan's that night (we usually sang Beatle songs-Back in the USSR was Russell the DJ's favorite so he usually put that on for us) It was just one of those days I didn't think too much about at the time, but looking back, well it was part of the college experience I suppose. 

Now, what these people are protesting and counter-protesting these days are a lot more serious than budget cuts. People are getting killed in the Middle East. And again,. I'm not going to get into who is wrong and who is right, I certainly have my opinion but I'm not going to get into that here. 

I'm just going to add one more anecdote here.... We were watching News 12 LI one night this week, and they of course led with the protests at Columbia and NYU etc. They then went to another local story, before they did a story about a protest at Nassau Community College. 

This protest had nothing to do with Israel or the Middle East. Rather, the vendor that operates the college cafeteria has stopped providing services due to a breakdown in contract negotiations. 

Per News 12 Long Island.....

Over 100 students, faculty and parents gathered on the campus of Nassau Community College Monday after food services ceased at the campus last week.

The cafeteria, café and campus Starbucks were all shut down after negotiations between the college and food vendor broke down, with the vendor declining to serve the campus through the end of the semester.

This has left students with limited options for food such as vending machines, or dining apps such as Uber Eats or DoorDash.

Students say they need on-campus food due to their schedule and are calling for the services to be restored immediately.

Kind of reminds me of the scene in Airplane when the flight attendant is explaining what's happened to the flight crew and the issues with the plane, when one of the passengers asks "Are you telling us everything?" And the flight attendant says "We're also out of coffee." 

Yes I think it sux that the kids have to head over to Roosevelt Field to get something to eat between classes. There was a Subway Sandwich in the Student Union at Queens College that I usually ate at, if I didn't feel like eating the lousy food in the cafeteria. I do hope that the situation gets resolved sooner than later.

But I give all props to the managing editor at News 12, for not segueing straight from the Middle East protests at Columbia to the Bring Back our Starbucks protest at Nassau Community College.  I mean in all fairness, the kids at NCC have a better chance of getting their pizza and coffee back then we have of getting nay peace in the Middle East. Not to be a pessimist or anything, but there has been 2000 years of this crap. I was born two months and a day before the Yom Kippur War of 1973, so I've been around for 50 of those 2000 years. If you were a betting person, what would you lay your money on?

PLAYOFFS (Part I) Rangers-Caps-

The Rangers took care of business on Sunday night, completing the 4 game sweep of the Washington Capitals in DC.It’s the first time they’ve swept a best of 7 series in 17 years. 

The Blueshirts dominated Games 1 and 3. Game 2 was a close one, and I felt like Game 4 was destined for OT. It’s why I was dozing off around the time Artemi Panarin scored what would prove to be the game winner. I guess I should have had more confidence. The Rangers were head and shoulders the better team. 

It's always makes a playoff series more interesting when you can identify a villain on the other team. The Caps have a couple. One is Alex Ovechkin, a Putin sympathizer. I try to keep politics out of my sports as best I can, so I won't go into him too much. I really hope he doesn't break Wayne Gretzky's career goals record. Right now he's 41 behind, and a couple years ago, 40 goals was a chip shot for Ovechkin, but at 38 and slowing down, he may not make it. One can only hope. 

The other villain on the Caps is Tom Wilson, who may have inadvertently done us a favor. A few years back he rag-dolled Panarin in a late season game, and received no suspension from the NHL powers that be.

So incensed over this was MSG owner James Dolan that he fired the team president, John (JD) Davidson and GM Scott Gorton, and replaced them both with Chris Drury with the mandate of not letting something like that ever happen again. As much as I thought (and still do think) that Dolan is an a$$hat, and as much as I thought firing the president and GM was a bad idea, Drury went out and made sure we put guys on the roster that will make sure guys like Wilson are held accountable. Hello, Barclay Goodrow, hello Will Cuylie, hello Ryan Lindgren and hello, our 6ft 8in man-child, Matt Rempe. Larry Brooks often talks about how every team needs what he refers to as "a little sandpaper" Not goons per se, but guys not afraid to hit. And if necessary, fight. 

We needed that sandpaper in this series, and we got it. Now we get ready for Round 2. 

PLAYOFFS (Part II) Knicks-76ers.

The Knicks took care of business in Game 1. Not an easy win, but a win with some wiggle room.

Towards the end of Game 2, Mike Breen said "The Sixers are hoping to tie the series up, while the Knicks are hoping for a miracle. I love Breen, but I thought he was being a tad overdramatic. There was 1:09 left and the Knicks were down by 4, a two-possession game. (unless a Knick was fouled while making a 3-poiner, then it was a one possession game) The point being, I didn't think they needed a miracle. 

They did need one a few seconds later, when they missed a shot then fouled Kyle Lowry. If he makes them both, the Sixers go up 6 with 47 seconds left. 

Say goodnight, Gracie. 

Except Lowry missed the second free throw, Jalen Brunson, who had shot poorly all night drove down the court and hit a three pointer than seemed to bounce around the rim a half dozen times before it went in. 

Here it gets crae-crae.

Josh Hart stripped Tyrese Maxey and got the ball to Donte DiVincenzo. The big Ragu missed a three, but Isiah Hartenstein got the rebound passed to OG Anunoby who got it back to DiVincenzo who buried a three and sonofagun, we were up one with 13 seconds left. 

Another missed Sixers shot and two made free throws from Anunoby and the miracle such as it is was complete. 

Unbelievable. 

As in the above mentions Rangers series, Joel Embid is the clear villain on the Sixers. First of all he is a crybaby and a big mouth. Then that stunt he pulled in Game 3, pulling Mitchell Robinson by the ankle while Robinson was in the air should have gotten Embid ejected from the game. Instead he was allowed to stay in and of course he killed us. He's like Barry Bonds a great player but an ever bigger a$$hole. 

And he was at it again today in Game 4, though maybe not as much. He was still beefing with the refs and using his elbows, but the Knicks also held him in check, especially in the 4th quarter. Meanwhile Brunson set a new Knicks record for most points in a playoff game with 47, and they stole one down in Philly, in yet another all out battle, 97-92. A Knick win at the Garden on Tuesday, and it’s on to Round 2. 

And I’m sure it will be another war. 

PLAYOFFS (Part III) Islanders-Hurricanes

I haven't watched too much of this series, but kudos to the Isles for stayin alive on Saturday with a double OT win courtesy of Matt Barzal. I did watch the end of Game 2 on Tuesday where they blew a 3-0 lead and lost 5-3. That was a killer but that has apparently been their M.O all season. Kind of like the baseball equvalent of a leaky bullpen, which as a Met fan I know all too well. The Islanders, as my in-laws like to point out, are one of the few teams in pro sports to have come back from an 0-3 deficit. So you can hang your blue and orange hats on that. 

The winner of this series faces my Rangers in Round 2. 

NFL DRAFT-A NY Holiday 

For us NY football fans, it was our high holy day. Once again because both our teams sucked it up this past season, we both had high picks. The sixth pick for Big Blue and tenth for Gang Green. 

The Giants took a stud wide receiver from LSU Malil Nabors. I don't usually listen to the two of them, but I happened to catch the beginning of BT and Sal (Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata) on the FAN, and while BT praised the pick, Licata blasted it, saying all the WR's in the world don't matter if you don't have a QB who can throw the ball to them. 

Thing is, I didn't love any of the QB's in this draft. Even Caleb Williams, as highly touted as he is.  Go back and look at how many QB's have come out of USC and excelled lately. Here's a hint, two of them were drafted by the Jets. 

I think the Giants made the right decision.

Speaking of the Jets, most of the draft prognosticators said the Jets would take Georgia TE Brock Bowers with their first round pick. Instead, they swapped spots with the Vikings and even with Bowers still on the board, they chose Olu Fashanu, and OT from Penn State. I mean, I get it, the offensive line has been our Achillies heel for years, to me, it's the main reason we can't develop a good young QB***. So it makes sense to stock up on offensive linemen. 

Thing is, GM Joe Douglas signed two veteran O-Linemen in free agency, so if by some miracles the guys that were signed stay (dare I say it) healthy, this pick will be on the bench. Meanwhile Bowers could have had an impact right away. 

Look I get draft pick stuff right almost as much as I get NCAA tournament picks right. The problem is, the guys getting paid the big $$$ for making the picks don't do much better than I do. So there's that. 

Timmy, my aspiring draft guru, has reassured me that the picks we made in the third round- Malachi Corey (WR-Western Kentucky) and 5th round -Jordan Travis (QB-Florida State) will be steals. 

Ah to be young and innocent. Of course, if he's right, he'll never let me forget it. And that will be a good thing. 

Back to the NHL….

RIP-The Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes-1996-2024

On Facebook, I saw a video of the last home game for the Arizona Coyotes. The fans there all stood and applauded as all the players, coaches, front office staff, and pretty much anyone involved with the organization stood on the ice and waved to the crowd, many of whom had tears in their eyes. It was really kind of sad.

Then the great Howie Rose retweeted a video from Coyotes broadcaster Todd Walsh. He told a story of how he was working for Phoenix's Rock Station when the team moved from Winnipeg. When his station signed the deal to broadcast the games, he was offered a job even though he knew little about the sport. He talked about the relationships he built and the good times he had with the fans. He was so eloquent and honest, you couldn't help but feel heartbreak from him.

And I do. For him and for the fans. 

But here's the bottom line...

1) The Coyotes played the last two years at Mullett Arena on the campus of Arizona State University. Mullett Arena has a seating capacity of 5,000. And most nights, they couldn't even get that many to come to the games. 

2) The Coyotes played their first seven seasons at America West Arena in downtown Phoenix, before moving to a brand new arena in 2002 in Glendale. In 2016, the team announced they were in partnership with Arizona State University to build another arena in Tempe. That plan fell through and in 2021 the city of Glendale chose to end it's agreement with the Coyotes. I'm not clear on why Glendale kicked them out, but I'm thinking it had to do with them talking about leaving for Tempe and also

3) Multiple Owners- The Jets were sold to Richard Burke and Steven Gluckstern in October of 1995, and the original plan was to move them to Minneapolis, to replace the North Stars that had moved to Dallas. (Gluckstern I believe also owned the Islanders at one point). That plan fell through and the team was moved to Phoenix, with more than one hockey expert predicting instant success for the franchise. After all, the Nordiques had moved from Quebec to Denver the year before and won the Cup straight away. I believed that had more to do with the Nordiques/Avalanche having Joe Sackic and Peter Forsberg and then trading for Patrick Roy than it did moving cities, but you can’t go by me. 

Upon his retirement from the NHL in 1999, Wayne Gretzky joined a group to by the team from Gluckstern and Burke. Gretzky and partner Steve Ellman missed two deadlines to secure financing, which should have sent up multiple red flags, but did not. The sale finally went through in 2001. 

Gretzky’s ownership of the team was awful. (see also-Derek Sanderson Jeter’s tenure as owner of the Marlins and also see why Wild Bill rarely asked his Lord and Savior to intervene in anything sports related, but did so when A-Rod and J-Lo were considering buying the Mets)  He also coached the team for a time and they went nowhere. By 2009, the team was forced to declare bankruptcy and the NHL took over operations. An offer from Research in Motion (BlackBerry) owner Jim Balsillie was rejected by Gary Bettman because Balsillie planned to move the team to Hamilton, Ontario. This began Bettman’s stubborn insistence that the franchise remain in Arizona. 

After 4 years under NHL control the Coyotes were purchased by Renassiance Sports and Entertainment Group. A little over a year later a hedge fund honch named Andrew Barroway bought controlling interest. 5 years later, he sold them to Alex Meruelo. Meruelo just completed the sale to Utah Jazz owner S. Ryan Smith, who has moved the team to Salt Lake City.

And with all this, Meruelo has an agreement with Bettman that if he can secure the land and the financing to do so, he will build an arena in Tempe and the NHL will grant him an expansion franchise! 

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Some believe Albert Einstein first made that statement, though that has been widely rejected. I’m guessing whoever said it had a crystal ball and was referring to the NHL trying to run a franchise in Arizona. 

I’m sorry I went on so much about this, but it’s just one of those things I don’t get. And again, I feel for those fans, losing a franchise has to be just an awful feeling. As much as I complain about my teams, who have suffered epic collapses, horrible draft picks, poor coaching decisions, and owners one more despicable and incompetent as the other, at least they have stayed put. 

But hockey’s not gonna work in Arizona. It’s worked in Dallas. It’s worked in Tampa. And it’s worked in  Nashville, I have a couple of friends of mine and Tara’s who grew up in Nashville, moved here around 25 years ago, and cannot believe how hockey crazy their hometown has become. Bettman, as much as I can’t stand the bastard, can boast that he has made hockey work in some southern cities. 

He needs to let go of Arizona. 

The Knicks, Mets and Rangers all won on Sunday, the Rangers win was a series clincher, the Knicks win put them one win away from a series clincher, and the Mets won in walk off fashion against the Cardinals. It’s rare that I have three of my teams playing in one day and like Hailey’s Comet rare that they all win. 

Now that’s a Happy Sunday.

Thank you again to all who support Running for Rebecca.

Stay Safe

and Have a Great Week

*Who are we kidding? That was my goal for pretty much the entire 90’s decade. 

**Imagine Rudy Giuliani being tone deaf? Mr. Four Seasons Landscaping himself?

*** That and the screaming heads on sports radio around here who seem to get off on running young QB’s out of town.

Weekly Mail April 14, 2024

 

Hi There:

Sometime after the eclipse on Monday April 8, 2024

So how did everybody enjoy the eclipse last week? 

My plan wasn't to look at it so much as I wanted to see what it looked like outside at the peak time. So around 3:20 or so I headed out to the front of the hospital. 

That part wasn't that impressive, it just looked like an overcast afternoon, certainly not unusual, especially for April. 

But then someone offered me their eclipse glasses and I was able to look up at it. I'm glad I did, because it was a really cool thing to see. It just looked like a black dot covering the sun. 

Obviously, it would have been much more interesting to have been somewhere in the Path of Totality. I saw on TV that they sold tickets to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to witness the total eclipse. That must have been wild. I mean, you can fit almost 400,000 people there. 

The next solar eclipse in NY isn't coming till May 1, 2079, many of us will be long gone by then. Glad I got to get a gander at it when I could. As an added bonus, Tim won his race (the 3200m) after the eclipse. Not a bad way to start off the week. 

Let's get to what else is going on....

OJ SIMPSON DEAD- I've spent the last couple of days since the news broke that OJ Simpson had died of cancer at age 76, wondering how or even if I should write anything about him. On WFAN's Boomer and Gio show on Friday morning, Greg Gianotti was saying how he kept hearing the words complicated and conflicted and he couldn't understand what was complicated about the death of a murderer, regardless of the fact that he was acquitted of said murders.

What I'm conflicted about is in what direction do I want to take this... Do I want to rehash the whole trial? Talk about how late I was to the rodeo as far as believing he did this? How he has done so much more in the 30 years since the trial to prove that he did it?  Or does any of that even matter at this point?

Here's where I think I'll start.. A couple of short years ago I found that the majority of the people who were working in my office at the time were either babies, or very young, while the OJ murder trial was going on. I addition to suddenly feeling very old, I was in that always unique if potentially annoying position of saying to these youngins that "Well, you had to be there."

Because unless you were alive and tuned in at that time, between June 12, 1994 and October 3, 1995 and even beyond, I can't accurately describe the phenomenon that was the Trial of the Century. I know several people here in NY who planned their entire day around the coverage*. CNN, Court TV, and E! Network all went gavel to gavel, and since it was all taking place in Los Angeles, you could get all your shit done in the morning and be done with it in time for dinner. 

You couldn't get away from it if you wanted to, but like I said, some folks really got into it. Because the accused was both an ex-athlete and a movie star (star maybe debatable but he was in commercials and on TV all the time) the story was covered in the news, sports and entertainment sections of the newscasts and the papers. 

It was everywhere.

And it went on for-EVER. I've also said this many times, and I had this belief re-affirmed after watching the American Crime Story miniseries on FX a few years back.... As guilty as he may have come across, I really can't tell you honestly if I was sitting on that jury that I wouldn't have come to the same verdict those 12 jurors did. I'd like to think that I would have been like Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men and held out till I got everyone to see it for what it was, but really I'm not even factoring in how those people had their lives upended for over half a year. 

I mean at one point Marcia Clark said that based on the DNA evidence, the odds that the blood wasn't OJ's was like 87 billion to 1. I know math isn't my subject, but I remember thinking, if there are 4 billion people on earth, how could they have come up with that number? I'm sure there is a way, but I remember at the time it sounded like it was a made-up figure. 

I've recommended several times the ESPN 30 for 30 Documentary June 17, 1994. It's easily the best 30 for 30 ever done and for my money one of the greatest documentaries in the history of the medium. One part that stuck out to me was when they interviewed one of the people standing along the freeway during the Bronco chase. When asked if he thought OJ did it, he said "No I don't. He has way too much to lose. Why throw that all away?"

As a naive 20-21 year old, who had been watching sports since I was 8 years old, I had the same thought. Why would he do that? Wasn't he already dating someone else? With all his money and fame, how come he just couldn't move on?

Of course, the more the trial went on, the clearer it became how something like that could exactly happen. As I've said, he's done more in these following 30 years to prove he killed Nicole and Ron Goldman than he ever did in those first few days after the murders. I honestly believed he would have died much sooner than this, either in a jail cell or at the hands of someone who had sat and watched that whole trial, felt a guilty man had gotten away with it and that this was the only way to get justice. Think that's far fetched? 30 years ago, it may have been. Nowadays? C'mon!

OJ is dead. Maybe he'll be judged more harshly on the other side. 

As I'm writing this, I'm hearing all about Iran firing missiles and drones into Israel. And here I am wondering if anybody is going to see the next eclipse in 2079. 

Let's move onto sports....

COLLEGE BASKETBALL- Calipari to Arkansas

Big Ray McGarvey, the dad of WM co-editor (Razor) Ray McGarvey and my lawyer in charge Mary McGarvey Depuy, once told me that Syracuse could have the best team in the world, they would never win an NCAA title with Jim Boeheim as their coach. 

In all the years he led the Orangemen, Boeheim managed one NCAA championship, and as Ed (Auggie) Depuy pointed out, that was because he ran into "a bigger choke artist than himself in Roy Williams"

I think John Calipari has them both beat. 

With all the talent he has recruited in the 15 years he was at Kentucky, he has one title to show for it. And he had a team in 2015 should have been the first to go unbeaten since Bobby Knight's 1976 Indiana team. Lately, they haven't been able to get out of the first weekend of the tournament. At a program like Kentucky that is inexcusable. 

One and Done referred to Cal's practice of recruiting players that would play the required one year of college ball before declaring for the NBA Draft. He told ESPN as much in another 30 for 30. He admitted that he told recruits not to come to Kentucky if they were looking to spend more than a year there, much less try to graduate with a degree. But lately, it refers to Cal's record in the Big Dance.

So there was some speculation that Kentucky might try to part ways with Calipari, which would have been difficult being that he had several years and a lot of $$$ left on his contract. 

But lo and behold, the University of Arkansas swept in and made Cal an offer he couldn't refuse and gave Kentucky a get out of jail free card. 

Now Cal get to take his act to Fayetteville, where between Tyson Foods and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, the Razorbacks are swimming in billionaire booster money**. That's right up Calipari's alley, the more $$$ he gets to play with, the less scrupulous he has to be. 

I'm probably the last person who should be giving anybody career advice, but Calipari should hang up his whistle and head over to TV. Whatever I think of his coaching or his ethics, I can't take away the fact that the man is charming and funny. I get why kids would want to play for him, and I remember Mike and the Mad Dog had him on all the time. Can you see him sitting there cracking wise with Barkley and Clark Kellogg and Kenny Smith? He'd fit in there like a glove. The only downside I see is that his ego would take up two spots on the panel, but that could be a cost cutting move as well. 

Maybe like they wrote in the Athletic this week, this will rejuvenate Calipari and get him all sorts of motivated. I just don't see his One and Done method working in Arkansas or anywhere for that matter. I think he's great at recruiting, much less great at X's and O's. We will see how this all plays out. 

One other thing that came out of the Cal to Arkansas story was a couple of the names floated around as possible replacements at Kentucky. One that made a lot of sense was Danny Hurley, who just lead UCONN to back-to-back titles. One that didn't but gave me a great amount of anxiety anyway was Rick Pitino.  

Hurley said he was staying put at UCONN, and Pitino I don't believe was ever seriously considered, but yes I did flash back to 35 years ago when Kentucky swiped Pitino from the Knicks. I was afraid history might repeat itself. 

Kentucky has hired former BYU coach Mark Pope as their new head coach. 

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

It wouldn't exactly break my heart if the Rangers did not win the President's Trophy, since it seems that they who win the President's Trophy, much more often than not, does not win the Stanley Cup. 

But also, the thought of losing twice in the same week to the Islanders was putting me in a foul mood. So when they came back from 2-1 down to win in a shootout on Saturday, I was more pumped about it than maybe I should have been. The roller coaster ride that is the playoffs are right around the corner. 

The Knicks meanwhile clinched the second seed in the Eastern Conference after they beat the Bulls in OT today, while Milwaukee and Cleveland both lost. I’m happy for the Knicks, but it’s hard to believe that 50 wins could clinch you the 2 seed. If they were playing out west, 50 wins got you the 5 seed. 

The Knicks will play whoever wins the Heat-Sixers play-in game. 

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

Pete Rose turns 83 on Sunday, and I was planning to review the book I just read about him in accordance with that. But I'm going to hold off till next week. 

Till then

Stay Safe

and Have a Great Week

*And I nearly got myself fired from Baskin-Robbins for suggesting this, but my boss there was one of those people. She angrily denied it, but she scurried out of the store like it was on fire every day at 1 PM ET, and she knew stuff from the trial that they didn't talk about on the news. In fact, I remember calling her from a payphone outside the Queens Center on October 2nd on my way home from school when I heard the jury had reached a verdict. "ooooooh, you know he's going to walk right Bill?" (She said from day one he was guilty) "No way they got all 12 people to vote guilty that quick" She was right again. 

**Phil Mushnick in his Friday Post column, pointed out that Arkansas is the nation's 5th poorest state with 15.6% of its population living in poverty. He loves pointing out how coaches at State Schools are usually the state's highest paid employees. See also, UCONN and Rutgers. I suspect John Calipari will be more an employee of Tyson foods than the state of Arkansas.  

Weekly Mail April 7, 2024

 

                                                                Saturday’s Post Cover

Hey What's Shakin! 

Friday morning, I was just doing my normal everyday routine at work. It had been a pretty good day, sometimes Fridays can be frustrating, as people try to squeeze in last minute things before the weekend. But up until around 10:25, it was a fairly uneventful day. 

Then I felt the floor start to move, there was stuff rattling in my office. My co-worker, who likes to end every sentence spoken to me with my name, said  "What's going on Bill?" "You feelin that Bill?"  "Yo, that's a damn earthquake Bill." 

I waited a minute then I went out to the hallway outside my office. One of the nurses said "Do you think that was an earthquake?"

My answer? "I HOPE that was an earthquake." 

They all laughed, but I was being honest. To me that was the best-case scenario. The building could have been crumbling down, maybe some of the bad guys got their hands on those WMD's. (Time to duck and cover?) Maybe the Good Lord had come to take me away. 

Paranoid you say? What have I written on these pages so many times? If it can happen, it will happen. 

Killer storms? Check. Pandemics? Check. Terrorist attacks? Check. Canadian forest fires that make it impossible to breathe in NY? Check

And now, earthquakes. Here in NY. There are a few reasons why I hadn't packed up and moved to Los Angeles back when I was younger, the obvious one being that I didn't want to be too far from my family and friends, another is that I probably couldn't afford to live there. 

But also because they have earthquakes there. Same thing with San Francisco. I was getting ready to watch Game 3 of the 1989 World Series when I heard Al Michaels say "I think we're having an earthqua.." and the screen went blank.

Thankfully, Michaels and Tim McCarver weren't hurt, (Though those of us who stayed with ABC's coverage that night were treated to Michaels telling us, oh, every 6 seconds or so, that he had "lived the better part of 12 years in the San Francisco area.)  but that was scary, and 63 people were killed. 

The epicenter of Friday's quake was Lebanon, NJ, about 60 miles outside of Manhattan. The US Geological Survey estimated that 42 million of us felt the effects.  

Thankfully, the damage appears to have been minimal, at least here in NY. I saw on Eyewitness News that some houses in Newark suffered structural damage that forced residents out. Obviously I feel for those folks. 

But there were some LOL moments too. 

We were celebrating Cultural Day at work, and while we were all having lunch around noon, all of our cell phones started beeping loudly. Over an hour and a half after all the fun had ended, we got a Public Safety Alert from NYS Emergency Management letting us know of the earthquake in NJ. As my friend Keri DeAngelo posted to FB.. "That would have been comforting if I was buried under rubble."

Sometimes ya gotta laugh. 

Then right before 6, I was at my mother-in-law's house and the cabinets started to shake, rattle and roll again. She lives off a busy street, so a large truck going by could have the same effect, but I didn't see any trucks. Sure as hell, my social media started lighting up with people saying they felt the aftershock. 

The original quake measured at 4.8. The aftershock was 4.0 and only lasted a couple of seconds. The morning quake lasted about 7 or 8 seconds. As of 5 PM on Saturday night, there have been no other aftershocks. So hopefully our long national nightmare is over. 

On Monday, a large section of our fair nation will witness a Solar Eclipse, where the moon will come between the Earth and the Sun. Here in NYC, we will witness about 85% of the sun blocked. 

The "Path of Totality," in addition to being the name of my upcoming album, also refers to the swath across North America which will see the moon cover the entirety of the sun. According to the maps I've consulted, the US cities in the Path of Totality* include Dallas, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Cleveland and Buffalo. Toronto and Montreal will be where our Canadian friends can see it. 

I was lucky enough to have been on vacation for the last major solar eclipse back in August 2017. To me that was much ado about nothing, at least in my neck of the woods. It looked like just a hazy late August afternoon. Tara wanted me to keep Timmy in the house during the height of it, but I let him go run around our block with his friends like he did every day. Neither he or any of his pals looked up at the sun as none of them gave a crap about it. They just did what they do.

Tim has a meet on Monday that got pushed back to 5:30 as to protect the athletes and spectators. The Yanks also pushed their previously scheduled afternoon game back a couple hours. 

The peak time for the eclipse here is 3:26, I don't get out of work till 4, so I'll have to check it out through a window. 

And of course, it wouldn't be a Total Solar Eclipse without our share of tin-foil hat wearing crackpots spreading conspiracy theories, from the government using the eclipse to declare martial law, to those poor souls who think this is a sign from the Big Guy upstairs that the end of the world is upon us. I was always taught in my 12 years of Catholic school that God was going to be a lot more subtle when He decided to close up the shop as it were. A total solar eclipse that people have been talking about and planning to witness for years is not exactly "you know not the day nor the hour" since every news organization in the world has published the day and the hour to the second of when the sun will be blocked by the moon in any given part of the continent. 

An earthquake in New Jersey on a random Friday in April though? Well, Michael Stipe put it best..

That's great it starts with an earthquake, birds, snakes and aeroplanes, Lenny Bruce is not afraid

-It's the End of the World as we Know it (and I feel Fine)-R.E.M.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL- Classic in the Women's Final Four

I'll admit I'm late to the party with the Women's NCAA Tournament. I've followed it through the media, but I haven't watched too many of the games. I caught a couple of Iowa's games, so I can say that I saw the best to ever do it, Caitlin Clark. 

After my WM staff meeting,  I caught the last quarter of UCONN-Iowa. I normally root for UCONN, even though I don't much care for their coach Geno Auriemma. Maybe I've been reading too many Phil Mushnick columns, but he just comes off as a pompous a$$ to me. I could be wrong about that, as again I admittedly haven't followed the women's game as much as I should. 

But I've watched enough sporting events in my life to know a Marquee Matchup when I see one. And UCONN-Iowa lived up to it's billing 

UCONN was led by Paige Bueckers, while Iowa had the aforementioned Caitlin Clark. The commentators were saying that neither of the stars played their best game, which is scary because from where I was sitting, they both looked pretty freakin awesome. Clark just broke Pistol Pete Maravich's all time NCAA scoring record. Some have suggested there should be an asterisk next to Clark's name since Maravich played before the advent of the 3 pointer. I'll leave that argument to others with more time on their hands, but one thing is fo'sho.. both Caitlin and the Pistol** could hit from anywhere. I mean, she fires up some shots from just over the half court line and made it look as easy as a lay-up. And she's just not content bombing away from no-man's (or woman's) land either, she's not afraid to take it to the hole. And she's got no issue giving up the rock either. 

She can do it all. 

As for the moving screen call at the end of the game that the commentators at ESPN were all bitching about, well, I hate to break it to ya, but that was the right call. And spare me the "you can't make that call in that situation" bull$h-t. If it's a moving screen at the beginning of the game, it's a moving screen at the end of the game. It sucks to have a call go against you in that situation, I get it. But if it's the right call, the ref has to make it. I hate it when they swallow the whistle. 

I had written back during the pandemic that I watched ESPN's the Last Dance about the 90's Bulls and slo-mo'ed the Charles Smith debacle. I had gone 27 years insisting that Smith was hacked at least 3 times with nothing called. It turned out the first shot was cleanly blocked by Horace Grant, the second shot could have gone either way (I couldn't tell if Michael Jordan had gotten a piece of Smith's wrist), but Scottie Pippen clearly shoved Smith on the third shot and nothing was called. That was gutless officiating. 

What happened the other night wasn't. Again it's a $hitty way to lose, but it was the right call. 

As for today’s Championship game, South Carolina was quite simply the best team. They outscored Iowa in bench points 37-0 or something like that. When you have that much depth, you are hard to beat. All props to Dawn Staley and the National Champions. 

As for the men..well, my brilliant first weekend and quarter of the second was all for naught. The only chance I had to win any $$$ was to have a NC State-Alabama final, which a) was very unlikely and b) outside of Raleigh and Tuscaloosa, a final nobody wanted. 

Now, normally I'd be pulling for UCONN tomorrow night, being that unlike Geno Auriemma, I like coach Danny Hurley and in light of the committee screwing the Big East nine ways to (selection) Sunday, this would be a proverbial middle finger to those who thought only 3 Big East teams deserved an invite to the dance.

However, a Purdue win guarantees my dad finishes second, and my sister finishes third. And no, not my sister who knows a thing or two about college basketball either. This would be my other favorite sister, the one who used to pick 16 seeds to go to the Final Four. And if Purdue happened to be a 16 seed, she'd pick them to win the whole thing. I think one year she picked Purdue to win it all even though they didn't make the tournament***

So how can I root against my own family, especially Kris? She deserves to see her beloved Boilermakers raise the championship trophy. And I'll rest easy knowing that I picked more games right than anyone else in my pool. That, and a MetroCard, will allow me to take the subway.

And also, these are clearly the two best teams in the country, which nowadays seems it rarely happens in the NCAA Men's tournament. So we could have a down to the wire classic. 

NBA: You Can't Randle the Truth..

My first reaction when I heard that Julius Randle was going to have season-ending shoulder surgery was anger at having been jerked around by the organization. For weeks, they had been saying that Randle was planning to come back in time for the playoffs if not sooner. 

Of course the longer he was out, the more disingenuous that all sounded. 

Then some of the guys on the FAN and other various talking heads, said the reason that the Knicks were saying that Randle could still come back was that he was rehabbing hard and he himself wasn't throwing in the towel. I could dig that, I believe Randle is a warrior and would move heaven and earth if he could to get back on the court. Especially with how well the team played after the trade with the Raptors.

But then I read Stephan Bondy's column in Friday's Post. Bondy confirmed that Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau had insisted several times that Randle was progressing. 

What Thibs, and the rest of Knick management failed to disclose was that Randle had re-injured his shoulder during a contact session a little over a month ago. 

According to Bondy's column, Randle told Bleacher Report, "my $hit wasn't stable. I felt like I was in the same state when I first dislocated it, and it's been an uphill battle ever since."

I'm sorry folks, but this gives me flashbacks to when Jacob deGrom first hurt his arm back in 2021. To that point he was having a 1968 Bob Gibson vintage year, then he left a game with arm pain. Sandy Alderson kept insisting all summer  that deGrom had no structural damage to his arm, that it was simply "inflammation." 

Then in the first week of September, with the Mets hopelessly out of the race (again) Alderson admitted that deGrom had a tear in his elbow (though he referred to it as a sprain). That sure sounded like structural damage to me. 

I understand why you might downplay an injury around the trade deadline, so that you don't get fleeced trying to replace an injured player, but why do it after that? All you are going to do is hurt your credibility with your fan base.

Now, Leon Rose the Knick GM has pushed almost all the right buttons, even moves I've criticized him for have turned out well so far. But he has taken an awful lot of heat for not talking to the media, only sitting for interviews with MSG's in-house media. This whole affair isn't going to help him in that regard. He has to hope Randle comes back next season, plays well and stays healthy. It would also help if OG Abanouby could figure out how to stay on the court. Otherwise this act of avoiding the press is going to get real old real quick. And the fans will be the ones calling for his scalp.  

On the off chance that some of these weirdos are correct and the solar eclipse is truly the end, it was nice knowing ya. 

Otherwise, we'll be back next week.

Stay Safe 

Wear the damn glasses (to paraphrase the great Ed Robinson) if you are going to watch the eclipse.

and Have a Great Week

*Am I the only one that hears Path of Totality in the voice of the late legendary Yankee Stadium PA Announcer Bob Sheppard? The voice of God as Reggie Jackson referred to him as. 

** I highly recommend Mark Kriegel's biography of Pete Maravich, Pistol. Kriegel's written three biographies: Namath, Pistol and the Good Son about Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, and they were all excellent. But Pistol was fantastic. After I finished reading it, I spent more time I care to admit on YouTube looking for Pete Maravich clips. 

*** Just kidding (I think)

Weekly Mail April 1, 2024

 

Hi Everyone:

Hope you all had a Happy Easter. 

So we took last week off because it was St. Patrick's Day in RVC and I usually march in the parade, but the weather was a washout, so I stayed home and watched college basketball all day. There are much worse ways to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon. 

We have a lot to get to, so we'll start with the bad news, the worst news actually.

RIP: Officer Jonathan Diller

Any time a cop is killed in the line of duty, it's a bad time in NY. This one hit closer to home than usual, for reasons I won't go into here. Everything about this is awful, from having a little boy who will never remember meeting his father, to the young widow, to the fact that the animal charged in the shooting had been arrested 21 times previously. 

NYC and the greater areas are united in grief, sadness and anger. The outpouring for Officer Diller has been something to see. I was in Massapequa on Friday morning and almost every house and business had a blue ribbon or some symbol of support for him and all his fellow police officers. The sea of blue that lined up along Merrick Road on the way to St. Rose of Lima in Massapequa on Saturday morning, I mean, if that didn't move you, you can't be moved. 

I'm consider myself blessed and fortunate to have many police officers and fire fighters amongst my family and friends. Many of you that see this on FB are NY Finest and Bravest. You may not agree with some of the things I write on here but please know this.., You are appreciated, respected, prayed for and supported here. The cold-blooded murder of Officer Jonathan Diller is heartbreaking. I always end this blog by saying Stay Safe. That goes for everybody but especially for our heroes in blue. 

Please.

Now, onto much less important matters.....

It's been a few weeks since some of these things took place, but I kept the WM from two weeks ago St Patrick's Day themed and we didn't publish last week, but there are a few items I need to spill about.

FOOTBALL: Saquon to the Eagles. 

A lot of the baloney that was written and discussed about Saquon Barkley signing as a free agent with the archrival Philadelphia Eagles concerned the back and forth between Barkley and former Giant all-pro and current WFAN afternoon drive co-host Tiki Barber. I'm not going to get into all that.

But even though I'm not a Giant fan, I think no matter what team you root for, you've had this experience, a player you've rooted for flying the coop for greener pastures, such as they are. It doesn't much happen to the Yankees, but it has even happened to them. 

The two instances that stick out to me happened in 1990 and 1997 respectively. 

First was Darryl Strawberry leaving the Mets. He had had a crappy year in 1989, lowlighted by a spring training fistfight with Keith Hernandez. But he bounced back in 1990 and almost carried the Mets by himself to the playoffs. But he also spent a good part of the season threatening to leave. In hindsight, the Mets should have dealt him at the trade deadline, especially since they had no intention of re-signing him. Young and innocent as I was in 1990, I didn't understand the concept of the low-ball (or in more modern profane terms- the f-ck you) offer. Mets GM Frank Cashen offered him a 4-year deal for a total of $15 million. The Dodgers offered him the same 4 years for a total of 20.25 million and that afternoon's Mike and the Mad Dog Show opened up with Randy Newman's I Love LA. 

In those pre internet days, if something pissed me off enough, I went down to my Apple word processor and typed and printed out my rants. My audience for those classics were Ray and Karl, and both of them thought my anger was misplaced. 

7 years later, the Rangers had made an unexpected run to the conference finals, only to lose to a loaded Flyers team. Mark Messier an impeding free agent had said he expected the Rangers to make a couple of free agent depth pickups, then would work with the Rangers on his new deal. 

Around the first week of July a report in the Sunday Daily News said that talks between Messier and the Rangers were progressing and that a deal was imminent. The next day, Messier angrily denied the Rangers and he were close to a deal and suggested he was about to start talking to other teams. The day after that, Mike Lupica, who barely writes about hockey during hockey season, wrote a column basically calling Messier an ingrate, much the way Dick Young had done to Tom Seaver 20 years prior. By the end of the week, Mess had signed with the Canucks. Apparently, Messier was miffed that the Rangers had given Patrick Ewing a huge 4 year deal despite the Knicks not being able to close the deal in the NBA Finals a week after the Rangers had done just that in the Stanley Cup Finals. I was on AOL by that time and I'm sure he was the subject of that week's WM. 

Now why these two stick out so much is that both the early 90's Mets and the late 90's Rangers were at the tail end of very successful runs and the departures of Straw and Mess both begat hard times for both franchises. The Mets won 91 games in Straw's last year, they won a mere 77, the year he left, 70 the year after that and by 1993 were the Worst Team $$$ Could By at 59-103. The Rangers had won the Cup in 1994, and as I said went to the conference finals in 1997. That conference final run would be their last playoff appearance for 9 years (8 plus the lockout year)  

Now the Giants have been mostly awful during the time Saquon has been here (one playoff win) but to me Saquon's big sin wasn't so much that he left Big Blue, but that he signed with an archrival. At least Strawberry and the Captain had the decency to go to the West Coast. Giants fans are going to see Saquon at least twice a year. 

I was pretty pissed when Jacob deGrom split town for Texas, but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise as he's been hurt, and to be honest, he may never pitch again. My point is I understand that visceral reaction when someone you root for decides to go play elsewhere. Saquon has had issues staying on the field, maybe those will continue down in Philly. Also the Giants made a couple of nice pickups in the wake of Barkley's departure. 

But yeah man I get it. It's a shitty feeling, like when the person you've been chatting up all night leaves with someone else. 

You when else I get that awful feeling? When my brackets start to fall apart. 

MARCH MADNESS: 

Now I've had a full two weeks to cool my jets over what happened to St. John's (in particular) and the Big East Conference (in general) on Selection Sunday. 

I can't remember ever sitting there watching the bracket reveal and having that feeling of expecting to see my team make it, only to have them left out all together. All the years St. John's didn't make it, I knew they weren't going to get in. This time around, I really felt like they deserved a berth in the dance. But they weren't even in the first four out. (Not that that really matters much, but still) 

Picking on the NCAA selection committee is like the epitome of low hanging fruit. I'll make my second Mike and the Mad Dog reference on this broadcast here by saying that used the Monday after the brackets were announced to trash the committee every single one of the 19 years they were on the air together. 

But the way the committee chairman came off after speaking to the CBS Studio guys just made me even more pissed off than I already was. What an arrogant jerk. And he couldn't explain how 6 teams from the Mountain West Conference could be chosen while St. John's, Providence and even more egregiously, Seton Hall could be left home. It made no sense.  

WFAN midday host Brandon Tierney suggested that because the Big East has a contract with Fox Sports and CBS broadcasts the tournament, that maybe THAT had something to with the selection committee's decision making. I'm not going down that rabbit hole, but 

Now, as for the tournament itself, as pissed as I was, and even though I told my dad I was going to fill out my brackets and not look at them again so that I wouldn't get hung up on rooting against the Cinderella story. 

But alas I wasn't able to keep that promise, and son of a gun wouldn't you know I had one of the best opening weekends of my life. 14-2 on Thursday, 13-3 on Friday. And the games I lost didn't destroy my bracket. I managed to get 13 teams in the Sweet 16. If I ever did do that (and I'm not sure I ever did) it hadn't been since I was in high school and could discuss my bracket with Greg Hearn and Chris Lawrence my two classmates who I still consider the best bracketoloigists I've ever met. 

Shoot even this past Thursday I felt like the bishop from Caddyshack when Alabama beat North Carolina. With UCONN beating San Diego State, and the Fighting Illini beating Iowa State, that was three teams in the Elite 8.

But all good things must come to an end. On Friday, my National Champion bowed out when Houston lost to f-cking Duke (of all teams) and Crieghton lost to Tennessee. Half my Final Four sent packing. 

That Duke-Houston game was an eyesore, even if the Cougars would have pulled it out. 23-22 at the half? I've seen better played CYO games. 

I’m proud that I picked 2 Final Four teams in UCONN (not exactly going out on a limb) and Alabama (which was a bit more ballsy) Purdue and 11th seeded NC State were the other two Final Four teams. 

BASEBALL-Opening Day 

Right now, I'm reading a book called Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose and the Last Glory Days of Baseball by Keith O'Brien. I've read a couple of books about Pete Rose in the last 10 years or so, including his most recent autobiography. The other book was by former SI writer Kostya Kennedy (which I should probably re-read for comparison's sake.) Something about this latest book told me I should pick it up, and to be honest, I've been looking to do I write up about sports gambling and athletes, even before all this crap about Shohei Ohtani came down. I'm going to finish this latest Rose book, and maybe by then more info will come out about Ohtani and his former interpreter and we'll be able to have a good discussion about all of it. 

For now, we'll focus on our two teams here in NY.

I caught the last couple of innings of the Yanks-Astros game on Thursday and if you are a Yankee fan, that had to be a great feeling. Coming back from 4-0, taking the lead, then preserving the lead with a rocket launcher throw courtesy of new pickup Juan Soto. Even I got a kick out of that. I realize Opening Day is one game out of 162, but again how exciting.

Then there were the Mets. They too were supposed to open on Thursday, but that was a washout, so they played on Good Friday. I had put in for March 28 way back when and I wasn't able to get the day off. Good Friday is a holiday for CHS, so I thought I had lucked out. Instead, I watched my boys pick up right where they left off last year, getting one -hit by the Brewers, I realize that Opening Day is one game out of 162, but again right where we left off last year. Playing like sh-t!

I have two teams preparing for the playoffs with the Rangers (who have already clinched) and the Knicks who are well on their way (their loss to the lowly Spurs the other night notwithstanding). I can't get too worked up over the Mets when it's not even April yet. 

Still I like it when we win on Opening day. 

Again, if you celebrate Easter, I hope you had a happy and a blessed one. I really don’t like when Easter falls anytime before April 1. It’s way too early and the weather is usually too cold.we were pretty lucky that the weather was nice on Sunday.

Stay Safe especially our Finest and Bravest 

and Have a Great Week