Former Ranger Defenseman Fedor (Rootin') Tyutin
Hi Folks:
So my plan was to give ya two Weekly Mails in August. You know what they say about the best laid plans.
I had a lot going in these first two weeks of August, so I typed here and there, but not enough to put out a solid blogpost. So this will be our season finale.
Two weeks ago, I turned 51. I want to thank all of you who wished me a happy happy on social media or otherwise and apologize that it took me so long to thank you all personally like I try to do either that night or the da after. I managed to get to it this past Thursday. As I said, I'm very lucky to have the people in my life that I do. I mean that with all my heart.
And on that note, it's time to piss half ya all off :O)
POLITICS: The VP Picks
So much like with my football and college basketball selections, I went 0-2 in predicting who our candidates would pick as their running mates.
I figured Captain Orange would go with North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, who is just MAGA enough to be useful without stealing the spotlight the Dear Leader so craves.
And I thought for sure that Vice President Harris would go with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, if for no other reason that she really needs to win that state if she's going to win the Presidency.
But alas Orange went with Ohio Senator JD Vance, and Harris chose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (not Waltz...-f-cking autocorrect).
Vance's main valuable trait is that he's young, he just turned 40, and could be the torchbearer for the MAGA movement for years to come. Now the only reason I'm not shuddering as I type those words is that knowing Trump the way we do, you know that's not how his mind works. His only goal is to get his fat a$$ back into the White House so he can keep said fat a$$ out of jail. And someone (I'm hearing it was Don Jr. and Eric) got into his ear and convinced him Vance was the man for that job.
Problem is, Vance has said some far out shit that even the hard core MAGAs are like "WTF?" basically suggesting that childless people aren't really that important. Specifically, women. I mean that was a head scratcher.
My biggest issue with Walz (not Walt-gotta figure out how to add his name to the dictionary) is that I didn't know too much about him. The right wing tried to help me out in that endeavor by filling me in on how he put tampons in high school bathrooms and let his state burn to the ground in the wake of George Floyd's murder. The latter of course is bullshit and the former, I mean, not sure why anyone would have an issue with that.
But both men are also taking shit for their military service, and on this I will defend them both.
Walz served in the Army National Guard from 1981 till he retired in 2005. Though he retired with an honorable discharge, he is being accused of retiring just as the unit was about to be deployed to Iraq in the heat of Gulf War II. Some (including Vance himself) have accused Walz of abandoning his men even going as far as calling in Stolen Valor.
From most of the people who served with Walz or even those who didn't but served in the National Guard and know the in's and out's of it, Walz put his retirement papers in well in advance of knowing that his unit was going to be sent to Iraq. He put his time in (20 years) plus he re-upped after 9/11. All accounts said that he did everything his job required and that the overwhelming majority of those who served with him have sang his praises.
There was certainly no stolen valor.
Vance has been criticized because his service in Iraq was 6 months as a military journalist and not seeing combat. Some have said that he sat in an air-conditioned office in Baghdad while others did the fighting. And in light of his smearing Tim Walz, I can see where people would have that take.
But to me, anyone who went to Iraq in a military role risked their lives. And if part of his job was public affairs, well that's important. He received two medals, one for good conduct and a Navy Marine Corp Achievement medal.
To me, they both served their country. To me they did so honorably. And neither one of them used their daddy's money to get them out of combat by exaggerating an injury. So, there's that.
I'm more concerned with Vance's big mouth. Accusing President Biden of being responsible for the Trump assassination attempt and some other ridiculous things. And for Trump, he has to be wondering if he should have just went with Doug Burgum, who if nothing else would have at least stuck to the script.
THE GAMES OF THE 33RD OLYMPIAD
Some observations.
1) I watched the men's basketball final on Saturday afternoon at my cousin in laws house, and while it was probably closer than we all would have liked, Steph Curry's shooting performance was other-worldly. I criticize Steph for being somewhat one-dimensional, much like the moniker his old man wore, but when he's on, he is something to watch.
2) I did not catch the women's final, but that too was closer than expected. A win is a win, and our basketball teams rule supreme.
3) I read somewhere that if we had only sent our women to Paris, we still would have ended up in 2nd place in total medals. Can you imagine? Our women won 67 of the 126 total medals we brought home from Paris. That's something we should all be proud of.
4) I know next to nothing about gymnastics. Simone Biles is considered the GOAT, and you'll get no argument here. But of course, it wouldn't be the Olympics without some controversy. And it appears Jordan Chiles may have been screwed out of a bronze medal. She had originally finished 5th, but the coaches appealed the judge's decision, and her score was re-considered, and she received enough points to propel her past two Romanians to take the bronze. However, it was later ruled that the US appeal was filed get this 4 seconds late! 4 seconds! So, the bronze went back to the Romanian gymnast. Sounds fugazi to me. But these are the Olympics, and that shit happens all the time.
5) In addition to where they held the Opening Ceremonies, the Seine River was going to host some aquatic events, including the marathon swim and the swimming portion of the triathlon. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, donned a wet suit and took a swim in the river, despite there being readings of high levels of e coli bacteria as late as June.
Paris officials insisted that efforts to clean up the river were successful and that it was safe for the events. I haven't heard of anybody getting sick, so maybe it was much ado about nothing. Kind of reminded me Seinfeld, when Kramer decided that the best way for him to get his swimming laps done in private was to swim in the East River. You could drink the water in the Siene compared to how filthy the East River is.
6) Back to basketball for a minute, as much as we dominated the basketball, we didn't do so hot in 3 on 3 basketball. First I didn't even know this was a thing, but apparently it is. Then it doesn't even look like they made the medal round. Not only that, they didn't qualify three years ago in Tokyo either. WTF? They need to send someone to Rucker Park and get some ballers to represent us in LA next time around.
7) Lastly I saw that break dancing made its debut at these 33rd Summer Olympic games. In the "You Learn Something New Everyday" dept-our neighbors to the north, Team Canada took the gold in the men's division. Would not have thought of Canada as a hotbed of break dancing. We took the bronze and the French took silver. In the women's division, we didn't medal at all as the three medals went to Japan, Lithuania and China respectively.
The big story of the breakdancing competition though was not any of the winners, but much like Eddie (the Eagle) Edwards back in the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, Australian Rachel Gunn, aka Raygun, a 36 year old cultural studies professor, was the story for her, well not quite sure how else to put this, ineptitude. She was essentially the Chicago White Sox of the breakdancing competition.
Raygun has spent much of the time since the closing ceremonies lamenting the harsh criticism that has been hurled her way. Unlike the aforementioned eagle, who was beloved and had a movie made about him, Raygun has been mocked from everything from her choice of clothing to her moves or lack thereof. Have our athletes gone soft or have we become nastier over the years? The answer to both is probably yes, and social media of course hasn't helped anyone in this endeavor.
We tied China for most Gold Medals at 40, but as I said our 126 total medals were far and away the most in the Paris Games. The show comes to Los Angeles in 4 years, and I believe McDonalds has finally recovered from the damage we did to their product supply 40 years ago when last the Olympic Games were contested in the city of angels.
BASEBALL: The Dawg Days of Awgust
Before I get into the Mets and Yankees, did you guys see what happened to the White Sox manager?
The White Sox are having a historically bad season. They had a 14 game losing streak earlier in the season and just recently also suffered through a 21 game streak. They broke the streak Tuesday August 6 with a 5-1 win over the also but not quite as bad Oakland A's on Tuesday August 6. After losing another game to the A's on Wednesday the 7th, they fired manager Pedro Grifol.
Why not, say, after the streak ended, gather the team in the clubhouse, hand Grifol a nice expensive bottle of his favorite spirit and say "At least you can go out on a high note here. The White Sox are no longer your headache." Hugs and handshakes all around for taking one for the team. Instead they fire him after he loses another game? I mean I guess there is no right or wrong answer when your team is closing in on 100 losses before Labor Day. They have as good as shot to break the 1962 Mets record for most losses in a season. As of this writing, they need to go 9-36 to finish at 39-122 to clear both the fewest wins and most losses barriers. I have all the faith in the world they can pull it off.
The Mets meanwhile have looked more like their 1962 forefathers these past couple of weeks. Last weekend they were destroyed in Seattle, managing only 1 run in three games and getting outscored 22-1 in the series. They then went on to drop 2 out of 3 to the above mentioned A's who are not only playing awful baseball but are going to be practically a team without a home for the next couple years, slumming in in Sacra-tomato (as Steve Sommers used to call it) till they get a new home in Las Vegas.
The loss on Thursday afternoon was especially vomit inducing, as the Mets blew a 5-0 lead to lose 7-6. The Mets walked a grand total of 10 batters in the game, which became the longest 9 inning game time wise since the beginning of the pitch clock era. And while we are on the subject of blowing and sucking, kind of wondering who in the Mets P.R department decided that having the internet sensation Hawk Tuah Girl to throw out the first pitch on a day the park was filled with camp kids was a good marketing idea? if you don't know who she is, put her name in YouTube and see for yourself. Tim is going to be 16 in two weeks and fortunately (or unfortunately as it were) doesn't need his old man to explain her deal. But some of the kids he helps take care of as a counselor may have. (Thier camp wasn't at the game on Thursday, but a whole bunch of other camps were) Bet that made for great dinner conversation.
Now on Saturday Luis Severino, who I was convinced had reached his quota of quality pitches for the season, surprised all of us by pitching a complete game 4 hit shutout. I relize that it was against a Marlin team that traded away most of their good players, including Jazz Chisholm Jr. (or since we're discussing Hawk Tuah Girl, Chazz Jis-never mind) but a complete game is a complete game, and Citi field was rocking despite the crappy weather. So who am I to say we should count them out.
Because the fact of the matter is, nobody is running away with anything this year. The Yankees looked like they might have as they busted out of the gate fast, but then as the Mets were finding their way, the Yanks faltered. Now they have started to turn it around, but the Orioles didn't take enough advantage and the AL East is a neck and neck race between the Yanks and the Birds.
Not one team in the league is playing .600 baseball right now, the Phillies at .593 is the closest, followed by the Yanks at .589, the Guardians and Orioles at .585 and the Dodgers at .581. I still think the Yanks lineup is too good to not hold off Baltimore. The Mets I believe will either squeak into the playoffs or break my heart and miss by a game or two.
***********************************************************************************
OK, so as I said I'm thinking this will be the season finale, but since I'm planning on working next weekend, I will reserve the right to publish if the mood strikes, like if for example this week's DNC in Chicago starts to resemble the DNC from Chicago in 1968, amongst other things.
If not, then I want to thank all of you for taking a few minutes every week to read this, and of course for your support and friendship. So many of you have kids either heading off/back to college or having already sent them. For you extra special love and prayers from me to you.
And everybody, please have a safe, relaxing and enjoyable rest of the summer.
Weekly Mail Returns in Late September*
*or maybe sooner
No comments:
Post a Comment