Weekly Mail February 23, 2025

 

Hey:

On Saturday, I took Tim to take his leaner's permit test, which he passed so now we start the process of teaching him to drive. We also took him to see St. John's University last week, which we will discuss a little further on in this broadcast. I know I sound like a broken record here, and I know I'm going to be writing words along these lines probably till I either die or stop writing whichever comes first, but I can't believe we are at this point. I still sometimes drive by the kindergarten center in Oceanside and think he was there only yesterday. 

Damn.

I usually use the first blog after the Super Bowl to recap the game, but what's to recap? The game sucked, the commercials sucked, the broadcasters sucked, and the halftime show did nothing for me, but if you are a Kendrick Lamar fan, I hope you enjoyed it. 

Last year at the parade in Kansas City there was a shooting that killed one person and injured 33 including several kids. This year was better, only two people shot, apparently over someone cutting in line to use the porta-potty (FFS) and nobody killed. Eagles GM Howie Roseman was clocked in the head by a flying beer can while on a parade float. When he addressed the fans at City Hall, he pointed to his cut forehead and said "I bleed for this city" 

Only in Philadelphia

That's Philadelphia in a nutshell for you. 

And now with the Super Bowl in the rearview mirror, we turn to our other local winter teams...

RANGERS-27-25-4-58 Points-The Blueshirts got off to another good start this season, 12-4-1 in their first 17. It was hard to get excited because they usually start off hot before fading in the playoffs. But this year they decided not to wait till the playoffs to start mailing it in. The proceeded to lose 5 in a row and 15 of 19 to close out 2024. Captain Jacob Trouba was dealt away to Anaheim and draft bust Kaapo Kakko who I have no doubt will score 50 goals for them, was traded to the Seattle Kraken. 

They have played better of late and traded to get JT Miller back. They dealt Miller when they were purging the team that had made it the Finals in 2014 and the ECF in 2015. For now, it looks like they may be able to put off another purge, but they have a lot of work to do to make the playoffs, much less make a run for the Cup. 

ISLANDERS- 25-23-7 57 Points- A 7 game win streak in January got them back into the playoff race. They've dealt with a slew of injuries. Hard to see them making any kind of run, but stranger things have happened. They won't get Matt Barzal back till the middle of March, and that's going to hurt. 

DEVILS-31-20-6 68 Points-The turn of the calendar to 2025 hasn't been kind to the boys from Newark, they have gone 7-6-3 since January 1. They played well up until that point though, so despite the rough waters. Like the Isles, the Devils have had a bunch of guys hurt, including Nico Hischier and goalie Jacob Markstrom The fact that Jack Hughes has blossomed into a legitimate star makes the fact that we dealt the guy we drafted right after him away this season sting even more than it already did. 

KNICKS-37-19   2nd Place- The Knicks at times look like they can contend for the NBA Title. Other times, they look like they don't have no business being contending for the playoffs. The issue is, it's the teams ahead of them (the Cavs and the Celtics) that make them look bad. Also the Lakers and OKC out west. I would like to see them completely healthy. OG Anunoby just came back, but now Josh Hart, who has been a warrior for them is hurt. Mitchell Robinson is due back soon. My wish is they have their full squad for the playoffs and then let's see how far they can go. 

NETS-20-35 4th Place- The only thing I can say about the Nets is that it looks like they have a keeper at coach. Jordi Fernandez has done more with less than perhaps any coach here in the area. The Nets are once again in rebuilding mode, but it seems like every night at least there is an effort. 

I know these aren't great reports, but to be honest, I haven't been as into the winter sports as I usually am. Living in Nassau County, I can get into the Isles if they are playing well, but the Devils and Nets I don't really follow. If anyone wants to add their $0.02, by all means. 

Oh, and I have one more team to report on.....

ST JOHN'S RED STORM 23-4 overall 14-2 first place Big East- As I was saying previous, Tara and I took Tim on his first college visit. It was hard enough to believe that we are at the point of looking at schools, but that the school we were looking at was home to the 9th ranked men's basketball team in the country made the visit almost surreal. 

And make no mistake, the kids who were showing us around the campus had no issue whatsoever using the fact that the Red Storm are one of the nation's top teams as a selling point. Why the hell wouldn't they? One of the kids on the tour with us was from Pennsylvania and she was asking one of the kids about Madison Square Garden. 

I can't say enough good things about the students who gave the tour. They did their university proud. It really is an amazing school. Tim of course played it close to the vest on how he felt about it, and that's OK too.

As far as Rick Pitino and the Johnnies goes, here is my pointless point of view on this team..

The good is that they play in your shorts defense, they run the floor incredibly well and they are great at securing offensive rebounds and creating second chance shots.

And that's a good trait to have for them, because the bad part is that they really can't shoot. Forget the long range bombing which they really struggle with, these kids miss more layups than any top 25 team I have ever seen. And foul shooting? They played Crieghton last Sunday and shot 58% from the stripe. That is only because they hit a few at the end, but for a while they were under 50%. I know that sounds like I'm nitpicking, but that is not going to fly once the Big Dance starts in March. 

But man have they been fun to watch. 

And I'm glad Tim is finally getting to see how much fun college basketball can be here in NY when the Johnnies are playing well. I was 5 years younger than he is now in 1985 when the late great Lou Carnesecca led the Chris Mullin, Walter Berry, Mark Jackson team all the way to the Final Four. I was too young to appreciate what an accomplishment that was, and if I had known that it would be at least a 40-year drought, I really would have appreciated it 

I make it a point to never watch a spring training baseball game any time before St. Patrick's Day and certainly never in February. But Timmy insisted on watching Juan Soto's first at-bat against the Astros on Saturday, and I'm not going to lie, watching that ball fly out of Clover Field did wonders for my soul. 

I also allowed myself to get sucked into the NHL 4 Nation face Off that they had in lieu of a traditional All-Star Game. At first it was worth it. Last Saturday's Canada-US matchup in Montreal had three (count'em) three fights in the first 9 seconds. I haven't seen that since the last time I watched Slap Shot. 

Both Brady and Matthew Tkaczuk got into fights. Followed by JT Miller. From there on in there were no more fights but lots of hitting and checking as well as great passing, outstanding goaltending and an occasional goal.  

But then I stayed up late on Thursday night just to see my heart get ripped out at the hands of one Connor McDavid. McDavid's OT goal brought back bad memories of Sidney Crosby beating us in OT at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics Gold Medal game. As bad as that was, that Canadian team was stacked. Danny Heatley, Sidney Crosby, Jerome Iginla, Patrick Marleau, Rick Nash, and Corey Perry were all 40 goal scorers and they had perhaps the best goalie of his era in Martin Brodeur, backed up by the goalie of that year's defending Cup champions Marc Andre Fluery. Taking that team to OT in the final game was an accomplishment.

We had the better team this time around. Jordin Bittington is a good, not great goalie and he was the best the Canadian team had to offer. McDavid is the best player in the sport, but overall, we had better players. During the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals between the Flyers and Red Wings, Flyers coach Terry Murray infamously described his teams 6-1 drubbing by Detroit in Game 3 as "a choking situation."  And while I wouldn't go that far, I'm also not sure I agree with current US coach Mike Sullivan's assessment that the buzz generated by the series will help grow the game in the US. I think a win on Thursday may have done that. But until our best beat their best, and that hasn't happened in a final since 1996, the game is not going to grow here. 

Think that's all we got this week folks

Stay Safe

and Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail February 9, 2025 (Halftime Special)

 

Bourbon Street February 8,2025

Hi Everyone:

The crowd in New Orleans is definitely pro Eagles. And after that 4th down pass interference callin the first quarter, I imagine they’ll be more Eagles fans now. From where I was sitting, it looked more like an inadvertent face mask, that still would have negated the catch. In any event, the “Refs are in the tank for KC crowd” got their Exhibit A 

The Chiefs are notorious for falling behind in the Super Bowl and storming back in the second half. They are going to have to do that again, Eagles are looking really tough right now. And Patrick Mahomes might want to start throwing to the guys in the red helmets. And the guys in the red helmets might want to stop dropping his throws.

Thought the Mountain Dew commercial with Seal was LOL. The Google Pixel commercial with the father doing a job interview was a tear jerker especially the part where he is crying watching his daughter go off to college. And the Rocket Mortgage commercial with Take me Home Country Roads was also great. You can’t go by me on that one, I have a weakness for John Denver. 

The Breast Cancer commercial I would say achieved its goal of getting everyone’s attention. 

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Tonight's game is being played at the Superdome in New Orleans. This is the 11th time New Orleans has hosted the big game. The first 3 times the game was played in Tulane Stadium, (Super Bowls IV, VI and IX.) the next 8, including tonight's showdown, were played in the Superdome. 

They call New Orleans the Big Easy, and if you have ever been there, you know why. I've been there twice, once when I was 6 years old, I went down with my parents and my sister*. We did a Riverboat tour and went to the Museum of the city of New Orleans. I'm sure we did some other things, but that's what I remember.

The second time I was there was in 2001**, and I pretty much did what most folks who go down there in their 20's tend to do. Party like a rock star. 

When I was there in 1980, Mom, Krissy and I took the St. Charles Trolley to get to the Riverboat. 21 years later, I took the trolley by myself, while my travel partners Karl (the Ace) Ludwig and his brother Keith went to the casino. A couple things I remember about that day.. 

1) It was 96 degrees and about that much in humidity, and I had to make a run for the trolley. I was in a tank top and shorts and I was sweating like I had just run the NYC Marathon. At the next stop, a couple of guys in 3 piece suits got on the trolley and there wasn't a drip or a drop on them. I guess if you are native to the climate, you get used to it, but I thought the only way they could get me to suit up in New Orleans would be if they decided to have my funeral there.

2) As I sat on the trolley thinking back to when I had been there with Mom and Kris, I had the sobering thought that I was about the same age Mom was when we were there in 1980. And while she was worrying about how to keep us entertained, I was wondering how many bars I could hit along Decatur Street when I got back from my ride on the trolley. (The correct answer Ken, is what is 12) 

Thinking back on that trip in 2001, it was the last of an innocent time both for us, and the city were had just been partying in for three days.

 Karl, Keith and I were waiting on line in the jetway, when Karl started reciting the classic George Carlin airplane routine. (Get on the plane, get on the plane, f-ck you, I'm getting IN the plane! Let Evil Kinevil get On the plane!) People around us were all giggling. 

That was August 21, 2001. Three weeks later, there would be no more jokes about flying. At least if you didn't want to be a guest of the Feds. 

And then four years and a week after that, Hurricane Katrina laid most of New Orleans to waste. The year before, another storm was bearing down on New Orleans, and there was talk that the city didn't have the resources or the infrastructure to survive. I thought that absurd in this day and age. And when the storm in 2004 passed by New Orleans without incident, it seemed like all that fear had been forgotten. 

Till 2005.

A few days before Katrina hit, I heard some of the editors at the Post talking about sending someone down there. There was almost zero chance they would have, but I thought to myself if they ask me to go, I'll gladly do it. They ended up sending a reporter named Jeremy Olshan down there. Jeremy and I weren't particularly tight, but he was getting married on December 17 that year, two weeks before Tara and I. We had found ourselves comparing wedding preparation notes that summer. 

When he got back, both what he wrote and what he and I talked about were heartbreaking and terrifying. He told me it was the worst experience of his life, and he struggled with some of the things he had seen down there. 

I thanked my stars I didn't volunteer to go there.

Both New York and New Orleans had a long way to climb back, and have both had their share of setbacks. We had our own Natural disaster 7 years later with Super Storm Sandy, and they just suffered through a deadly attack on New Years morning, which while obviously not on the scale of 9/11, still shook the citizens of the city to their core. The families of some of the victims of that attack were honorary captains at the coin toss. 

We've both hosted Super Bowls too. In February 2014, Super Bowl XLVIII was played at Met Life Stadium, but almost all the Super Bowl Experience was held in Manhattan. The year before was the last time New Orleans hosted before tonight. In the third quarter, the power went out. The game was held up for 34 minutes. (On FB that night I put the over/under for getting the power back at 14 minutes) 

Luckily there doesn't seem to be any issues so far tonight. I promised a no-politics post tonight, so I won't mention Captain Orange is at the game. 

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

I said that I wouldn't weigh in on Pete Alonso until he either re-signed with the Mets or signed elsewhere. At the risk of sounding like Mike Francesa, I will say I would have been surprised if he had signed somewhere else. 

The longer this dragged on, the less likely it seemed anyone else would swoop in and knock the Polar Bear over with $$ and years. I believe him when he says that the Mets were his first choice. I also believe you don't hire Scott Boras as your agent because you are willing to give a hometown discount.

Juan Soto made no bones about it; he was going to the highest bidder. That happened to be the Mets. If by some miracle it would have been Colorado, he would be singing Rocky Mountain High and bragging about the Denver Public School system. That's why he hired Scott Boras.

And that's why Alonso hired him too.

But Soto had a monster year in 2024 and led the Yankees to the World Series. Alonso had a down year and is also going onto the wrong side of 30. Bill Madden, the Daily News legendary baseball writer, often talks about "one dumb owner" the one guy who ends up bidding against himself and over paying a player. Boras, for years was the master of finding that one dumb owner. This year he came up short. He still has to find a home for Alex Bregman too.

I'm happy Alonso is back and I hope to heck he has a bounce back year. That may mean he opts out of his deal with the Mets and hits the open market again in the hopes someone will go for a long-term deal with him. That bridge will be crossed when we get to it next year, and maybe Alonso will get himself another agent. For now, I'm hoping he rakes hitting behind Soto and look forward to watching him become the Mets all time leading home run hitter. He is currently 26 behind Darryl Strawberry, who has held the record at 252 for 35 years. 

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I was going to get into a discussion of Eli Manning not getting elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this week, but I'll save that for next week. At least he won the kick of destiny so there’s that. 

For now, enjoy the rest of the game.hopefully the Chiefs can make a game out of it. 

and Have a Great Week 

*This was 3BK (three years before my sister Katie was born) 

**Both times I went to New Orleans, the Super Bowl was contested the following January/February at the Superdome. (Super Bowl XV Eagles-Raiders and XXXVI Rams-Patriots) 

Weekly Mail February 2, 2025

 

Last night I had written that Tim and I went to the Knicks-Hawks game on the 20th, which was also Inauguration Day in America. 

And going to the game offered me one more excuse (not that I needed any) to resist watching Convicted Felon Captain Orange get sworn in as president. 

It's going to be a game time decision every week whether or not I waste time and energy writing about all the wonderful things CFCO does to make America great again, but after his first week back in charge here were the top three head shaking things he did to kick off his latest reign of error. 

1) He pardoned 1,500 January 6th terrorists. Those of you who voted for the CF because he was going to be the law-and-order president, cheered on as a bunch of animals that broke into the US Capitol looking to kill the Vice President and the Speaker of the House, and assaulted, injured and caused the death of 5 Capitol police officers, were given a literal get out of jail free card. He pardoned the leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, who have pledged more violence. Why not? It's not like it's against the law anymore, right? Per the NY Times...

Trump pardoned Tarrio and Rhodes, both of whom had received long sentences for their involvement in the attack. After leaving prison, both men called on Trump to get retribution against those who investigated and prosecuted the Jan. 6 attack.

Lovely

2) He reversed Joe Biden's efforts to lower prescription drug costs, including an effort to cap prices at $2.00 for Medicare recipients. Again, I'm sure there are people who are cheering this on because he stuck it to Biden, but who is getting screwed here? From where I'm sitting, it's the people who need medications and can't afford them. Is part of this Captain Orange listening to his healthcare guru RFK Jr. telling him that prescription drugs and vaccines are overrated? People worship this orange calf so much, they are willing to pay more for medications just to own the libs. It's mind boggling.

3) He pulled America out of the Paris Climate Accords, in a week where noted ski destinations like Pensacola, Florida, New Orleans, Louisiana and Mobile, Alabama was hit with several inches of snow. Houston had it's first significant snowfall in over 60 years, (they had to have snowplows brought in from outside the state because they didn't have any.) Meanwhile, Los Angeles is still dealing with the effects of three major wildfires that wiped out hundreds of homes and caused damage in the billions of dollars. But sure, let's make pretend that there's no such thing as climate change. 

There were two heroes though the emerged last week. And as hopeless as I have felt about everything these past two and a half months or so, these two people gave me some hope.

The first was Pamela Hemphill, a 60-year-old woman from Boise, Idaho, who had pled guilty to entering the Capitol and received a 60 day prison sentence and three years probation. 

She told CO to take his pardon and shove it..

“Absolutely not,” Ms. Hemphill said in an interview on Wednesday. “It’s an insult to the Capitol Police, to the rule of law and to the nation. If I accept a pardon, I’m continuing their propaganda, their gaslighting and all their falsehoods they’re putting out there about Jan. 6.”

Ms. Hemphill, 71, who was called “MAGA Granny” in some news headlines, has said that she no longer supports Mr. Trump or believes his lie that the 2020 election was stolen. She said that a therapist had helped change her view of the attack by telling her she was “not a victim of Jan. 6; I was a volunteer.”

Boom. 

Klete Keller was a swimmer who competed in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. He was arrested for illegally entering the Capitol on January 6th. I remember reading about him shortly after January 6th. In the story, he tearfully called his coach and admitted he had screwed up. "I got caught up in it" he said at the time. He ended up pleading guilty and expressing remorse to the judge. The prosecution acknowledged his remorse, but recommended 10 months in jail. The judge instead gave him 6 months home confinement and 36 months probation. He accepted his pardon, but also reiterated that he regretted what he did that day. 

Most of these creeps not only don't regret what they did, they're proud of it and/or don't think they did anything wrong. That's why I say lock 'em up and throw away the key. But I give these two people some props. 

The other person who emerged as a hero to me this week was the right reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, who addressed CVCO during a prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington DC on Tuesday. 

Per NPR

"Let me make one final plea, Mr. President," Bishop Mariann Budde said in her 15-minute sermon. "Millions have put their trust in you. And as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now," said Budde, as she appeared to look towards the president.

"The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals, they – they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors," said Budde.

Amongst those who took issue with this was our Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, who took to X to tweet the following...(per Raw Story)

"Bishop Budde hijacked the National Prayer Service to promote her radical ideology," posted Johnson, a hard-right lawmaker known for embracing Christian nationalism . "This was an opportunity to unify the country in prayer, but she used it to sow division. Even worse, she’s continued her political crusade in media interviews. Shameful."

Speaker Johnson, is another Christian who is not quite as Christ-like in dealing with folks who aren't as white, straight, male and rich as he. And he showed us all just that this week. 

He's not nearly alone. But he's third in line after Orange and JD Vance, so he's one of the most prominent.  

Tara and I watched an episode of FBI on CBS that we had DVR'ed on Tuesday. The episode dealt with a Bolivian Terrorist group who had hacked into the computer system of an airline and was able to gain control of the entire fleet of planes. Most of the planes had managed to land before the group had been able to hack in, but one plane was being manipulated to fly straight into a nuclear power plant. 

"That was a bit too intense for me" I told Tara. She readily agreed. 

A little over an hour later, there was a real-life airplane disaster. 

Per the Times...

American Eagle Flight 5342, operated by PSA Airlines for its parent carrier, American Airlines, had taken off from Wichita, Kan., carrying 60 passengers and four crew members. The collision occurred in clear skies as the plane approached Reagan National Airport around 9 p.m.

The helicopter, a UH-60 Black Hawk with a three-person crew, had been on a military training flight, the Army said.

60 passengers on the plane, 4 crew members, and three army are all presumed dead. 

Amongst the victims were American and Russian Figure Skaters. The US Figure Skating Championships had been held earlier in Wichita. It was the deadliest air crash in the US in 20 years. 

It's almost incomprehensible in this age for something like this to happen. Both commercial airplanes and military helicopters have computers and equipment out the wazoo designed to ensure that this can't happen. That it's been 20 years since the last time this happened is no accident.

And of course it will be thoroughly investigated, we hope.

We hope because of course we are now about two weeks into Captain Orange the Sequel and I don't trust him and the fellow buffoons he hired for his administration to do anything right. 

Against my better judgement, I tuned into his press conference on Thursday. After requesting a moment of silence for the victims, he explained what had happened and then praised the rescue efforts. So far so good. 

The work has now shifted to a recovery mission. Sadly, there are no survivors. This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation's capital and in our nation's history, and a tragedy of terrible proportions. As one nation, we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly. And we are a country of -- really we are in mourning.

This has really shaken a lot of people, including people, very sadly, from other nations who were on the flight. For the family members back in Wichita, Kansas, here in Washington, DC and throughout the United States and in Russia, we have a Russia contingent, some very talented people, unfortunately, were on that plane, very, very, very sorry about that.

Whose loved ones were aboard the passenger jet, we can only begin to imagine the agony that you are all feeling, nothing worse. On behalf of the First Lady, myself and 340 million Americans, our hearts are shattered alongside yours, and our prayers are with you now and in the days to come -- we'll be working very, very diligently in the days to come.

And for a brief shining moment in time, I thought perhaps he had learned something about being presidential. He sounded almost like Ronald Reagan after the Challenger exploded, 39 years and one day before.  Acknowledging a nation in grief. 

We're here for you to wipe away the tears and to offer you our devotion, our love and our support, it's great support. In moments like this, the differences between Americans fade to nothing compared to the bonds of affection and loyalty that unite us all, both as Americans and even as nations. We are one family and today we are all heartbroken we're all searching for answers.

And if he had just simply f-cking stopped right there, I would have done something I thought I would never do, something I vowed I would never do, because I still think he should be in jail. I would have given him props. I would have maybe even backed him up. 

But this is Convicted Felon Captain Orange we are talking about here, and of course he had to say this...

And I think we'll probably state those opinions now, because over the years I've watched as things like this happen and they say, well, we're always investigating. And then the investigation, three years later, they announce it.

So, speculate before you have all the facts. Great. But it gets better. 

I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary, you remember that. Only the highest aptitude, have to be the highest intellect and psychologically superior people were allowed to qualify for air traffic controllers. That was not so prior to getting there. When I arrived in 2016, I made that change very early on because I always felt this was a job that -- and other jobs too, but this was a job that had to be superior intelligence.

And we didn't really have that, and we had it. And then when I left office and Biden took over, he changed them back to lower than ever before. I put safety first, Obama, Biden and the democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody's ever seen because this was the lowest level. Their policy was horrible, and their politics was even worse.

The FAA website shows that the agency's guidance on diversity hiring were last updated on March 23rd of '22. They wanted to make it even more so. And then I came in and I assumed maybe this is the reason, the FAA, which is overseen by Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a real winner. That guy is a real winner. Do you know how badly everything's run since he's run this Department of Transportation?

Shame on me for thinking for a second that he would handle this any different than he handles anything else. Like a complete asshole. 

If anything, these executive orders he signed to clean up this supposed mess he inherited, left Reagan National Airport short of an air traffic controller who may have prevented this. 

That last sentence I typed may or may not be true. It's one of the theories that has been bandied about. It sounds about right to me.

But the fact of the matter is, there was a time I wouldn't put something like that on paper, virtual or otherwise, unless I had it on good authority. Certainly not mere hours after the crash, when they hadn't even recovered the black boxes. 

I also would never blame the President of the United States for an aviation disaster. That bullshit started with certain peabrains in Congress who blamed Pete Buttigieg for flight delays. 

9/11/2001 saw both Presidents Bush and Clinton shoulder some of the blame for the terrorist attack, but that was after months of investigations. 

But what this piece of shit said the other day? The sad part is, so many people who agree with him. And really that's why he does it. 

Think about if he had just stopped with the line We are one family, we are heartbroken and we are searching for answers. Think about how healing that would have been. Again, even someone like me, who is not sure healing is in order because so many people are going to get screwed by his cruelty and incompetence, even I would have had to say, "Let's maybe use this terrible tragedy to come together and mourn together as one nation.

Instead, we have half the nation blaming CFCO and half the nation blaming Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, and (FFS) Barack Obama, who hasn't been POTUS since 2017. 

As Green Day once sang, Welcome to Paradise. 

Stay Safe 

and Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail January 26, 2025

 

So, I had written an entire post last week but never got around to finishing up the last story I wanted to discuss. On Wednesday night, American Airlines Flight 5432 collided with a Black Hawk Helicopter leaving 67 people dead. I decided I would hold off and send out two posts this weekend. This one here will deal with lighter stuff like sports and less serious news. Tomorrow night will be more serious topics, politics and the plane crash. 

Madison Square Garden January 20, 2025

Hi Folks:

Tim and I were at MSG two Mondays ago for what has become our tradition of going to watch the Knicks play on Martin Luther King Day. The first two times we went, the Knicks lost, to the Raptors and the Magic respectfully. 

This year they played the Hawks and their MSG Public Enemy #1 Trae Young. A month ago, the Hawks beat the Knicks at MSG and Young took to the Knicks mid-court logo and pretended to roll dice, ensuring he'll pretty much be booed anytime he touches the ball till the end of his career. (We Ranger fans still chant Potvin Sucks at the Garden, almost 40 years after the Islander captain retired) 

Alas Young and the rest of the Hawks were no match for Jalen Brunson (34 points) and Mikhail Bridges (26 points) who looked like a player who was worth the bounty of draft picks the Knicks sent over the bridge to the Nets last summer. 

This is actually the second time I saw the Hawks play the Knicks on MLK day. 38 years ago (wow) I went to the game with my high school teammates Gary Siano and Tom (TC) Kelly. The tickets were 12 bucks that day and we got them at the gate. 12 bucks doesn't get you much these days at MSG. But I digress. It was a great day with great company. Anytime spent with my kid is awesome, a Knick win was just icing on the cake.

Later that night, I had the rare opportunity to witness one of my teams play for a championship...

FOOTBALL-(College) Irish Fall Just Short

I had been tempted to write about my beloved Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team during their run to the College Football National Championship Game, but to be honest, I thought I might give them the horns, since they had gutted out huge wins vs Indiana, Georgia, and Penn State en-route to the title game in Atlanta against the Ohio State University. 

But alas, it wouldn't have mattered if I had written about them or not, as Ohio State's defense was too much to overcome. The Buckeyes had a huge lead throughout most of the middle of the game, but the Irish fought back to come within 8. A TD and a two point conversion could have put this game into OT. 

But with 2:45 left in the 4th quarter and the Buckeyes facing 3rd and 11 from their own 34 yard line, QB Will Howard hit WR Jeramiah Smith for a 59-yard gain, setting up a FG that put the game out of reach and cost yours truly the back door cover. 

I've watched Notre Dame have great regular seasons, only to run into a team from the SEC or the Big Ten and get their doors blown off. I can still hear my late father in law telling me "Men against Boys Billy" as these post season blowouts were being handed down. 

But this year, the Irish took all comers and then gave Ohio State about all they could handle. Unlike previous years, the Irish can rightly claim to be one of the top programs in the nation. To me, they have nothing to hang their heads about. 

Now having said that, as much fun as this college football playoff was, I still think playing college football on MLK Day is a bit much. I was just getting used to playing the National Championship game around the 10th or 11th of January, and now we are almost to the end of the month. I realize that asking college football to wrap things up by New Years Day the way they did when I was a kid is as fruitless a pursuit as asking the players to accept free tuition, room and board as their salaries as opposed to their NIL booty. but shoot these seasons just go on way too long. 

FOOTBALL (NFL)- Jets New Coach and General Manager

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.-Albert Einstein*

Here now is a list of coaches the Jets hired since Bill Parcells quit on them on 1/3/2000..

Bill Belichick, Al Groh, Herm Edwards, Eric Mangini, Rex Ryan, Todd Bowels, Adam Gase, Rob Saleh and now, Aaron Glenn. 

Belichick weaseled his way to New England as we all know and never coached a game for the Jets. Groh stayed one year and weaseled his way back to college football. The Herminator, Mangenuis, Rex, and Bowels all had two things in common. 

1) They were defensive coordinators

2) The Jets gave them their first head coaching job. 

And now in hiring Arron Glenn, the Jets have once again handed the keys to the car to a first time head coach who had previously been a defensive coordinator. 

Adam Gase, BTW, was an offensive coordinator who had also been a head coach with the Dolphins. But the Fish practically ran him out of town and his two year tenure here as HC of the NYJ was a predictable disaster.

I don't know if Aaron Glenn will be a disaster or not, and yes, he deserves a chance to show what he can do, but the Jets long ago pissed away any benefit of the doubt they might think they deserve. 

In the meantime, they have also hired Darren Mougey, an assistant GM for the Broncos, who, as luck would have it, will be a first time GM. Why they hired the coach before the GM is another question you'll have ask them. That's not the way I would have gone about it, but what do I know? 

Parcells, amongst others, have praised Glenn and are sure he will be a successful NFL head coach. People said the same thing about Saleh, I remember that clearly. I'm sure they said the same about the others. Rex Ryan pretty much told us he would be a success. 

I can't get excited anymore. I wish them both luck and will be over the moon if they are able to pull it off. They still have a QB dilemma and a meddlesome pea brained owner. Vince Lombardi couldn't win under those circumstances. 

Just an absolute mess. 

And speaking of seasons that go on way to long, the Chiefs and Eagles will meet next week to decide Super Bowl LIX (59 for the Roman Numeral Challenged) in New Orleans. The Eagles got there by blowing out the Commanders who had previously upset the Lions. I really wanted the Lions to at least get to the Super Bowl. I really didn't want the Eagles to go there. Even though I'm not a Giant fan, I still feel their pain and don't really need to see Saquon Barkley rushing for 200 yards in the biggest game of the year.

If he does though it will quite an accomplishment, as the Chiefs defense is really good. 

The Chiefs have a chance to become the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls, which I have heard from various precincts is actually incorrect. 

So let me clarify. NFL Teams have won three consecutive championships in the pre-Super Bowl era or before the NFL-AFL merger. Christopher (Mad Dog) Russo was on ESPN's First Take a couple of weeks ago talking about how technically the Lombardi/Bart Starr Packers had won the NFL Championship three years in a row (and 5 in 7 years) but the first of the three was the year before Super Bowl I. 

"Now if they had played the Super Bowl that year, (January 1966 for the 1965 season) the Packers would have played the Bills, you're telling me that the Bills would have had a chance against Lombardi? I don't think so." Russo ranted on. 

Well maybe not (though Russo is actually old enough to remember that they were saying the same thing 4 years later about the Colts and Jets). But regardless, no team has won 3 SUPER BOWLS in a row. The Chiefs could be the first to pull it off.

And it seems like there is a fair percentage of the population that does not want to see that happen. 

They have had it with the Chiefs. Sick of seeing Taylor Swift cheering on her man Travis Kelce from various luxury boxes. Sick of Patrick Mahomes and his supposed favored nation status with league officials. Sick of the State Farm commercials. Mostly just sick of seeing them win all the time. 

I had to live through 20 years of pain from Bill Belichick/Tom Brady at the Patriots, so the Chiefs have a long way to go before I can work up a righteous hatred of them. Andy Reid is not nearly the lying lowlife Belichick was/still is, and Mahomes is so much easier to root for than Brady ever was.

Having said that, I kind of found myself pulling for the Bills last Sunday. 

By all accounts, I should have the same feelings towards the Bills as Giants fans have against the Eagles, but the fact of the matter is the Jets have been so bad for so long, I don't even know who their archrivals are anymore. If anything, it's the Jaguars who it seems like they battle every year to see who will suck more and get the higher draft pick (but I digress) 

I like Josh Allen a lot. He's a tremendous QB. The fans in Buffalo deserve to see one of their teams win a championship and I don't think the Sabres are going to bring home a Stanley Cup anytime soon. Yes the Bills lost 4 Super Bowls in a row, but that was over 30 years ago already. 

But once again, Allen and the Bills made it close, but no cigar. So we have a rematch of Super Bowl LVII (57) from two years ago, which was a fairly entertaining game. And I'll be pulling for the threepeat. 

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I'm not going to comment about the Pete Alonso situation until it is resolved one way or another. Then I'll let you know what I think of all the parties involved.

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One more story...

A British Only Fans Influencer who claims to have slept with over 1000 men in 12 hours (what?) lost a potential conquest when he was forcibly removed from the line of fellow horndogs by his mother. 

Adriana Diaz in the Post wrote about the incident, involving sex machine Bonnie Blue.

Bonnie Blue has set up a series of “extreme sex stunts” where she has guys waiting in line for the privilege of doing the nasty with her.. Like taking a number at the DMV.

This is from an article about Blue in the Independent..

Imagine you’re in a queue. Surrounded by men you don’t know, some of whom are just in their boxers, you find yourself waiting around for hours on the staircase of a £15m mansion. Perhaps you exchange some small talk with the man in front of you: he’s wearing a balaclava. Mostly, though, you just stand in silence, interrupted only occasionally by sounds of moaning from a nearby room somewhere at the top of the staircase. For now, though, you just wait until it’s your turn to be in that room yourself, having sex with a 25-year-old woman you’ve never met.

This was the situation facilitated earlier this month by OnlyFans star Bonnie Blue, who claims to have slept with a record-breaking 1,057 men in 12 hours. 

Well, some poor kid was doing just that when his mum caught wind of what he was up to. And she proceeded to march right over and get him off the queue.

“Put your clothes on otherwise I’ll get the police to come for you,” Put your clothes on now and come out! Come out here now”

Adriana referenced a Tik Tok video to this effect, which was shot by influencer Beavo, who was interviewing some of the guys who were waiting in line for their chance at glory, when this kid’s mom showed up to collect him.

According to the Post article the kid put up a fight and told his mother “I’m 19 and I signed a consent form.”  

I hereby consent to place my pud in someone who has had 1,000 other dudes doing the same thing.  

Listen man, call me a prude but that just doesn’t sound like my idea of fun. I give all the props in the world to this dude’s momma. Let him go find Mrs. Right as opposed to Mrs. Right Now. Actually, more like Mrs. Take a Number.  Trust me bro, you may be cheesed off right now, but one day you will look back and thank your mum for this. 

We'll be back tomorrow. Till then

Stay Safe

and Have a Great Night

*Or maybe Mark Twain, or Ben Franklin.