Shea Goodbye

they were the best of times, they were the worst of times.

Poor Jim Holland ......so full of hope at the start of the day....so deflated afterwards....forced to endure drunken conversations that teetered on the brink of insanity , from the sublime to the ridiculous....such is a Sunday afternoon in the Marina of Flushing Bay......from the serious suggestion to activate Mr. Met so he could get an at bat at Big Shea. ( we figured he would probably take a pitch off his huge cranium and we would at least have a base runner....."he's a team player" Hoffie insisted..."he'd let the pitch hit em".)....to a lenghty, LENGHTY discussion on the origins of the word BOOOO.......why don't we growl instead of boooing ? GRRRLLLL.....makes sense to me.....

Speaking of BOOOOOing ........that's pretty much all i did from 4:15 until early this morning.......I took off today ( go figure) and I have watched the replay on SNY twice so far......I am sitting in the garage....drinking a beer.....still wearing my lanyard with my ticket around my neck ( i did not sleep with it, for fear of strangulation....but I put it back on immediately this morning) and I just keep boooing the TV......my dog thinks it's strange, but what the hell does she know....she wasn't at Big Shea yesterday....I have a right to keep boooooing.

the POST Game ceremony....POST Game......yeah that's right....after choking yet again , and the beer vendors packed and gone....that's what i want to do....stand around and watch the Widow Clendennon slide into 2nd base....even Tom terrific didn't have the heart to throw a strike.....he bounced the final pitch to tghe Pizza man......typical Mets....typical Shea......

The highlight of the day was the kielbasa breakfast in the early morning Monsoon.....it was kind of like a Chineese water torture....the 67 cold beers in the parking lot were tastier than their pricier Bud-Light cousins of the upper tier........beltran homered...that was exciting....bringing the August 10th tickets....that was different........glenn close and marc anthony....whoop de doo.

as I stood at field level next to the left field foul pole, and watched the horrible parade of heores .......the Al Jacksons, Craig Swanns, Dave Kingmans....etc etc.....suddenly it occured to me.......WE SUCK !!!!

anyway the good news little Craig was told that we won the world series AGAIN, and he's Polish , so he believed it......and Big Craig is scoutingStub Hub for opening day tix 2009....and Goomba Johhny enjoyed the potatoe pancake leftovers, so what the hell did we expect anyway....a win ?

Fare Thee Well

O seven hundred ZULU hours....Sept 28....Sunday
Oh? seven or eight hundred cold beers in the Marina Parking Lot.
That Crazy ol sun is fighting, scratching , clawing his way through the clouds to shine on the METROPOLITANS and her Loyal Subjects......all who fight with me this day will be brothers for eternity........the culmination of a long season....the culmination of the only stadium the class of 65 has ever known.........today ol Shea we bid you adieu .......today we say goodbye ........we pray for the afterlife of postseason, but we ask no quarter and give none......this day we leave it all in the seats, a piece of me forever dies this day....I will shed a tear, and chug a beer, feel the chills and experience thrills, never again will we ride the escalators up hopeful and come pouring down the ramps victoriuos.......the chant of "Lets-Go-Mets" we life forever, but sadly echo silently on this hallowed ground........one last time, one last game, things will never be the same, I grew older here, for I certainly have yet to grow up, from my fist game in Spring of 1970 , through the playoffs of 73, the World Series games and too many opening days to recall them all here, I will take my memories of the old ballyard to my senility..............GOODBYE OLD FRIEND.

I leave you with the ftting Lyrics of Robert Hunter and Jerome Kahn Garcia.


Fare you well, my honey
Fare you well, my only true one
All the birds that were singing
Are flown, except you alone


Gonna leave this brokedown palace
On my hands and my knees, I will roll, roll, roll
Make myself a bed by the waterside
In my time, in my time, I will roll, roll, roll


In a bed, in a bed
By the waterside I will lay my head
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul


River gonna take me, sing me sweet and sleepy
Sing me sweet and sleepy all the way back home
It's a far gone lullaby sung many years ago
Mama, Mama, many worlds I've come since I first left home


Going home, going home
By the waterside I will rest my bones
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul


Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Big Shea

desperation

DESPERATE Times call for DESPERATE Measures......

I may have to borrow Donnies "GIANT" Met Windbreaker for the finale manyana.....



BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Another one bites the Dust

As Jorma would warble...."another man done gone...another man done gone....another man done gone...down on the county farm.............another man done gone"

Washington Mutual closed by the FED , the Largest Bank Failure in the history of the United States, all this while Congress fiddles and juctures for the cameras.....demands an apolgy from Wall Street ( Sherrod OHIO) and protests the bailout of "WALL STREET MOGULS"........the sad thing is the average stiff on the street really thinks this is a golden parachute for Wall Street......friends if you do not realize it by now, this is a bailout of MAIN STREET....not Wall Street......we are steamrolling towards socialism.......the day is coming when there will be one bank....one mortgage lender.....one credit card company........all controlled by the govt...........talk about a revolution, welllll ya know.....you can count me in.(j.Lennon)


stock picks of the day......JPM ( Chase) and WFC ( Wells Fargo).....buy and hold em....they are going to own the world soon.....you may as well get a dividend back

Thank You.....Thank You.....

On Behalf of "Messier the Great Mouse Catcher" ......top mouser in Monmouth County 3 of the last 5 years .....we would like to extend a great Thank You to all the well wishers this past week......Messier is back home , resting peacefully, snacking on Turkey and wathcing the Mets Choke...again......I had to tell her it was not her medication , and this was not deja-vu.....but a whole new pennant strecth implosion.......ah but she digresses......we want to say thanks for all the cards and flowers, emails, voicemails and text messages of support that we recd.......for the record, the Champ is recovering from a life threatening attack of pancreatitis.....but as the snapshots will attest .....all is well on the couch back home......she is anxiously awaiting the cooler weather ...the weather that drives ordinary field mouses indoors to their certain deaths...... and of course the start of Hockey season , this being the year that her dog sister Graves joins her on the Roof of MSG......

Yankee Stadium Farewell

The Brown Bomber

If you were not priviliged to be amongst the 17K strong faithfull at Monmouth Park , or Lucky enough to find yourself squared in front of a telivision tuned to Trackside Live yesterday at 4:48 P.M. , you missed quite the showing. Big Brown , the Brown Bomber , ran a race only true champions are capable of. It was a race that enthusiasts of the equines have seen a zillion times prior , only this one was slightly different. Staked to an early lead, Big Brown stretced the field, only a longshot was in hollering distance on the back stretch......but this was not a cupcake festival, this field was strong ......older, more experienced and true Turf Horses lingered in his shadow as the rounded the last turn. Shakis, the Irish Champ had the King of Monmouth aboard in Joe Bravo and was in perfect stalking range.......Proudinksy, A 5 year old German turf horse was also chalk and drew even with Mr. Brown.........it was obvious the Big brown went out too fast , too soon and was gassed, these older more seasoned vets of the turf wars were gonna blow by the Hero......we have seen it a zillion times , but will have to wait another day to the a "zillion and one" .......Big brown switched to another gear , very few horses when caught from behind by another great horse can dig deep and find that next level....Big Brown did ......he held off the charge....it was exhilirating....I did not bet him , i bet on Shakis, but I roared my approval and was pulling for him isntead of my own bet down the stretch.......the 17K roared too, it was two minutes of heart pounding excitement that reminds me why I love them soo.....yesterday , we witness GREATNESS......on to the Breeders Baby...Bring on Curlin !!

lil ten

well I hope , but do not expect , for the pollsters to vote for the top twenty based on what they see and not on loyalty to the folks that butter their bread.....face it , the Big Ten has been mediocre at best the past 5 years , and yet, just because ohio State beats up on the rest of the conf we have to endure watching them get spanked in the title game ( On TIVo on Jan 10th of course, but that's another rant.)

Yesterday Mighty Ohio State....the Pride of the conf , gets blown out 35-3 ....again.....when was there last impressive non conf win ? the title they stole from Miami with phantom time delayed pass interference ?

In Other conf News.....Wisky slips by Fresno St by a field Goal.......Purdue loses to Oregon, Illinois sneaks by Louisiana Lafeyette by 3 and Michigan gets spanked by Notre Dame High School Musical.

The only team winning convincingly is Penn State, big deal....Syracuse ? wasn't gardner-webb available.....they keep their streak of nobody alive next week when they tackle Temple.......

Yet come Dec......there they will be ....splattered across the top twenty , and we will be told how great Ohio St is because they had "another" unbeaten Big-Ten season......a farce.....

next week we put the acc under ths scope.

evidence

Shocking !!! Stunning !!!! Victor Mclaughlin ( AKA Chippo Nolan ) returns as the "informer"..........I hope the FISH and chips were tasty roll.....et tu ? et tu ??

shaquin andujar

we have it on very good information from Big Jim, our mole in the Persecutors office, that there is an informant amongst us......someone is leeking to the snappin turtle......DAG! makes perfect sense now why we have been unable to capture this elusive foe......we have a traitor in our midst.........thankfully this "INFORMER" will be exposed soon..........did you ever see the movie witk Kevin Costner ? "NO WAY OUT" ? ? well we have the same prmise here......it seems a photo of the guilty party was snapped...no pun intended.....it is being developed as we blog.......as soon as I can sure it with my loyal audience, I Will........


STAY TUNED ..........

long day at the track

Mr. looser of the NY Post has nuthin on me.....

So I am at the Shores fastest Strecth, Beautiful Monmouth Park on Friday and I am perusing the entries for the first race.......low and behold there is a horse called JAYleen .....this being Sept 12th I had just come from a memorial Mass for my brother JAY , so this horse caught my eye......18-1....worth $2 ...........so I put in my exotics and toss 2 across on the longshot , grab an icey cold 16oz bottle of delicious Coors Lite ( TAP on the NYSE) . and walk outside to get some air......10 minutes to post , 22-1 on Jayleen .......I walk to the finish line to see the horsies come through the tunnel and enter the main ring.......the first 4 go past without incident , but heres come #5 Jayleen , there is a commotion, he does a double spin-o-rama directly in front of me.........he stops fussing , looks right at me , and does a full-on horsie snort....I smile back at him , peek up at the board 27-1.........I head upstairs to watch the race from the balcony at the finish line...and start contemplating a few more sheckles on old Jayleen after our close encounter of the Equine kind.....so I visit the machine and toss an addittional $20.00 scross the board.....32-1 and rising....if it ever comes in we are eating and drinking like Kings this day.........I walk to the finish line and stand outside by the wheelchair section ( Hope no Mad Canucks start tossing beer on me ) ......the horsies are going in the gate at the head of the backstretch......35-1 final odds....

And they're off..........it's a tight pack down the backstretch , lots of jockeying for position but nothing unusual......they start to thin around the far turn, Jayleen in 4th but hanging near the lead, there is some more jockeying as the clear the turn and now I am on the rail and closing furiously, one of the big favorites has fallen off the pace, it's a two Horse race....and Jayleen is one of them , S/b a Nice Payday for yours truly...they hit the wire and I've got 2nd place , 1/2 length off the winner, as the two horses that were tied for third cross the line, one of them goes down like he was shot.....crumbling on top of the Jock ( Eddie Castro) sickening........right in front of my eyes.......horrifying.....the crowds gasps.....the horsie springs up after a moment , THANK GOD , and gallops in the opposite direction.....the Jock is motionless , looks like he is dead.....the ambulance is out , the stretcher comes out........this puts a damper on my excitement , but i have place and show money , times 11 , coming my way....that will buy plenty of beer .............then the three words that can bring a grown man to tears.

"HOLD ALL TICKETS "

We have an inquiry.........WHAT ?? WHAT ??? ......well maybe it has nothin to do with good ol 5 horse.....maybe it has to do with the two horses that tied for third and crashed.........yeah, that makes sense........quick look at the Tote board.......the 5 is flashing.......you son of a .........

The three of four minutes that the stewards reviewed the infraction felt like an hour, of course my luck , I am standing next toa crusty ol Man who continues to bellow " Take him Down....Take Him Down".....miserable creep wants my 35-1 shot to forfeit 2nd place because he did not bet on him......he wants his chalk horse to get 2nd se he can retrieve $2.10 from the window........."TAKE HIM DOWN".......obviously I need to walk away before i expedite this old bastardo's departure from said earth.

" ladies and Gentelemn tha #5 Horse, JAYleen, has been disqualified "

At that point I should have taken every nickle on me and placed it ever so carefully into the recycling bin and walked home in the rain......it was a sign of things to come .


Not Too worry though.....I am going back today to make more donations and cheer on the GREAT Big Brown..........see you in the paddock.

9/11/08....what are they doing there now.?

Jorma Kaukonen Blue Country Heart...."what are they doing in heaven today"


What are they doing in heaven today,
Where sin and sorrow are all done away?
Peace abounds like a river, they say.
What are they doing there now?

I'm thinking of friends whom I used to know,
Who lived and suffered in this world below
But they've gone off to heaven, but I want to know
What are they doing there now?


There's some whose hearts were burdened with care
They paid for their moment to fighting and tears
But they clung to the cross with trembling and fear
But what are they doing there now?



And there's some whose bodies were full of disease
Physicians and doctors couldn't give them much ease
But they suffered 'til death brought a final release
But what are they doing there now?


There's some who were poor and often despised
They looked up to heaven with tear-blinded eyes
While people were heedless and deaf to their cries
But what are they doing there now?

R.I.P.

McGOLDRICK-John Patrick "Butch" on August 31, 2008. Member of Iron Workers Union Local 361 and Local 40. Active player and member of the Shoreview Golf Club at Dyker Beach Park Golf Course. Member of Knights of Columbus, Sheridan Council 908. Beloved husband of over 25 years to Joanne. Loving father of Meaghan Ann, Kevin, Marie,

Regina Selleto, Helen & John Patrick Jr. Dear brother of Cecelia Denniston and the late Margaret Gilpin. Proud grandfather of Jenny Marie, Greg and John Patrick III. Visiting, Thursday 2-4 & 7-9 P.M. at CLAVIN FUNERAL HOME, 7722 Fourth Ave., Brooklyn. Mass of Christian Burial Friday, 10:30 A.M. at The Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Brooklyn.