El Capitan Theater June 18, 2025
Hi Everyone:
I was hoping to have an all sports blog today. Well, both of my teams are currently sucking big time. And unfortunately we have other things happening. On that note..
JIMMY KIMMEL SUSPENDED - I'm not going to get into what he said that ended up getting him in trouble. However you feel about it, it's definitely up to you. I'll make the following observations..
1) People last week who were all quick to remind us of their 2nd amendment rights to stockpile weapons to protect themselves from Charlie Kirk shooter copycats, seemed not to care quite as much about the amendment in the Bill Of Rights just proceeding the 2nd Amendment, that being the one that guarantee Freedom of Speech.
2) A few folks I follow on FB pointed out that Jimmy Kimmel made a bunch of jokes at the expense of Tucker Carlson who was fired by Fox News after they settled with Dominion Voting Systems for $787 million. That settlement was due in large part because certain members of Fox News made false statements about the 2020 election.
Of course the difference between the two was that FOX fired Carlson because his false statements cost the Murdoch's almost 1 billion dollars. It had nothing to do with the FCC threatening Fox or Carlson. What happened to Kimmel was ABC Disney folding like a cheap suit to threats from Captain Orange and a now militarized FCC. That's a huge difference. A difference even Carlson himself acknowledged. It's not the same thing no matter how much one tries to spin it that way.
3) The Convicted Felon Cpt Orange took some time from visiting King Charles in London to say that he plans to "go after" Jimmy Fallon the way he gone after Kimmel and Stephen Colbert.
It kind of brought me back to when I first started working at the Post. I worked the 3-10:30 shifts on Monday and Tuesday. I usually got home in time to catch David Letterman's monologue and the bits he would do before he brought out his first guest. On many of these nights, he would do a bit poking fun at then President George W. Bush. (The one I remember mostly was "The George W. Bush Joke that wasn't really a Joke", but there were others. He start by playing Hail to the Chief, followed by a less than flattering video clip. He did something along those lines almost every night.
I'm positive Bush never said a word about any of that. And that was for two reasons, 1) he was usually in bed well before Letterman came on, but mostly 2) because he had more important things to worry about, like I don't know, running the country?.
Again, of all the things on the laundry list of shit I can't stand about Captain Orange, his inability to roll with the punches is right there at the top. And if he can't handle Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert, how do you think he's going to handle creeps like Putin and Kim Jong Un?
The government trying to put a lid on anyone speaking should send chills down anyone's spine, no matter who you support. Just like seeing Charlie Kirk get killed should have spooked us all. We all think it can't happen to us till it does. I can't stand Ted Cruz, he's almost as big a scumbag as CFCO is, but even he saw all this for what it is. He compared the FCC to Goodfellas.
But if you voted for CFCO, this is what you wanted. So celebrate for now, just don’t complain when it’s your voice they want to silence.
A couple of OBITS
ROBERT REDFORD-. I wonder if I was the only person who was surprised when upon hearing the news of Robert Redford's passing, that he was 89 year old. He always just seemed much younger than his years. I was also surprised to learn that he never won as Oscar as an actor, his lone win coming as a director for Ordinary People in 1980.
A quick gander at his acting credits shows both how versatile he was, and how many different generations of actors and actresses he got to work with, both as a co-star and director. Not to mention how he built a small city in Utah dedicated to showcasing independent filmmaking. When we first got DirectTV in my house, I spent an inordinate amount of time watching the Sundance Channel. So many young filmmakers either go their start or got a boost from Redford, that is probably the greatest legacy he left behind last week.
ED GIACOMIN- One of Jerry Seinfeld's most famous bits is the one where he says when you are rooting for a sports team, you are in effect rooting for laundry. Players come and go, they get traded, they leave via free agency, they retire. It's the uniform, or as Seinfeld put it, the laundry, that stays the constant. How many times have you jeered a player till he ended up on your team (see the Yankees with Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs and Johnny Damon) or cheered for a player till he went elsewhere, (see me with Darryl Strawberry 5/7/1991 and Mark Messier 11/25/1997).
But on November 2, 1975, Ranger fans showed that it wasn't just the white jersey with the blue and red letters they were rooting for, it was the guys wearing those jerseys they cared about...well, one man in particular, who a few days before had been wearing that jersey but was released.
Ed Giacomin wipes away tears as fans chant his name 11/2/75
Eddie Giacomin had been the Rangers goalie from the dark days of the mid 60's to their near misses in the early 70's. Indeed between 1971 and 1974, they made it to the Conference Finals, and came within two wins of the Stanley Cup in 1972. Backstopped mainly by Ed Giacomin.
In 1975, the Rangers were knocked out of the playoffs by the Islanders and the powers that be decided that perhaps it was time for a rebuild. They had a young goalie named John Davidson in their system, and to make room for him, they released Giacomin. He was almost immediately picked up by the Red Wings and as luck would have it, their next game was against the Rangers at MSG.
As Giacomin took his place in the Red Wings net, the Garden roared with chants of Ed-die, Ed-die. Giacomin was overcome with emotion, and several of the Rangers recalled feeling guilty shooting at their former teammate that night. More than one admitted they whispered “Sorry Eddie” as they skated past him.
Can you imagine that happening now?
Like Seinfeld says, it's just laundry. Players move all the time. It's one reason that all star games are so pointless now.
It was different times back then. I have spent many a night on these pages bemoaning the fact that my teams don't win. We're going to do a little more of that in a few minutes. Sometimes as a fan, it's not about wins and losses but about moments and how they move you. Anyone who was at the Garden that night, (and a whole bunch more who weren't) can tell you how they felt when Ed Giacomin returned with Detroit on 11/2/1975.
RIP
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I'm going to wait till next week to write about the state of the Mets. They will either have squeaked into the playoffs or suffered one of the worst choke jobs in baseball history. For now, let's see how our NY Jets are doing.
FOOTBALL: SOJ
I recall being less than thrilled when the Jets signed Justin Fields to a 2 year $40 million deal (see WM March 16, 2025). I wondered aloud about how much faith we could put in a QB going on his third team in 5 years.
On opening day, those who told me I should give him a shot were proven correct.
They lost, but he played well, giving the Jets yardage both with his arm and his legs. They actually looked like a functioning football team, and not the bunch of stiffs they usually look like. It was a botched kickoff return and a couple of stupid penalties that did them in two weeks ago.
Last week, they went back to looking like what they have been: the worst franchise in the NFL since 2011.
Fields couldn't make any good throws, they still committed killer penalties and they turned the ball over a couple of times (though to his credit, Fields didn't throw any picks). The Jets lost a not as close as the final score 30-10 game to the Bills.
Fields is now in concussion protocol and will be out indefinitely. Tyrod Taylor is our newest QB1.
I didn’t get to watch much of the game on Sunday against Tampa. They were down 23-6 when I shut it off and ended up losing 29-27, so they must have done something right in the second half. Of course they didn’t do enough of it.
I realize that 3 weeks in is way little time to judge a new regime. I also will say again that Robert Wood Johnson IV has long ago pissed away any benefits of the doubt from me and many of my fellow Jet fans. We just are hoping he one day stumbles into the combination of GM/Coach that finally ends the Jets playoff drought.
For now they are 0-3 and going nowhere fast.
Good times, Good Times.
That’s all we got.
Stay Safe,
and Have a Great Week
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