Derby Rant 2025

 if ever there was a year to listen to my predictions....this may be it......because truth be told i haven't watched a race since the Breeders and wasn't even sure who was in the field until yesterday......when i saw a comment on this blog requesting the RANT.......well i figured i owed it to my loyal following.

Now everybody knows that i ADMIRE DAYTONA and have had my share of bottomless Mimosa brunches at the LUXOR CAFE , and i was on my way there to meet NEOEQUOS and share one FINAL GAMBIT when a call came in about a FLYING MOHAWK on EAST AVENUE and BURNHAM SQUARE....it would be an insult to my chosen profession of JOURNALISM, not to mention my PUBLISHER; if i were to ignore such a story. I was a little late for the arraignment , thanks to bad directions from BAEZA or the SANDMAN as some people prefer to call him....but i still got there in time to hear that OWEN ALMIGHTY....aka the Judge, refused to RENDER JUDGEMENT on this COAL BATTLE......that despite the fact that .....i don't want to question the SOVEREIGNTY of this court , but there was CHUNK OF GOLD on the line here .....

and in this new era , where every legal resident of our great country has the opportunity to succeed , i'm praying for some CITIZEN BULL to have a TIZTASTIC 2:00 minutes and achieve that AMERICAN PROMISE............and if i still lived near the track that is how i would play it .

1) American Promise

2) Tiztastic ( a distant relative of Dermotts horse)

3) Citizen Bull

if anyone wants to throw in a $2 Triple BOX for me (1-5-14)......and a $1 straight Superfecta  3-2-6-5   I will settle up in a few months....

if the M/L Favorite Journalism wins, Trump will file an inquiry 

let my inspiration flow in token rhyme,

 suggesting rhythm

That will not forsake you, 'til my tale is told and done
While the firelight's aglow, strange shadows from the flames will grow
'Til things we've never seen will seem familiar (Hunter-Garcia)

greetings to all from the Palmetto state........one year ago today i was at a catastrophic low, thanks to nobody but myself......my own drunken antics jeopardized the future i had worked so hard for...i won't go into details, it wasn't a great story, in short i punched someone that desperately deserved it....but the Highlands PD did not agree.........well as stoics do, i lowered my head and got busy righting the ship....hired a very good $$$$ lawyer....i bought a wonderful bouquet of justice, ...i reestablished the finish line and this time i made it happen.........this morning as i type this i enjoy a cup of Java in a rental property 2 blocks from the beach....and next week i close on my future home......i owe it all to the critical life lesson i learned many, many moons ago.......2+3=BEEER

Inspiration, move me brightly, light the song with sense and color
Hold away despair, more than this I will not ask
Faced with mysteries dark and vast, statements just seem vain at last
Some rise, some fall, some climb, to get to Terrapin

Well

 I’m going back to Canada

On a journey through the past 

And I won’t be back till February comes

I’ll stay with you, if you stay with me 

Said the fiddler to the drunk 

And we’ll keep good time on a journey through the past…

All I am missing is Alvarez and the bottle of Jack and it would be just like the spring of 89

I just reached a place

 Where the willow don’t bend

There’s not much more to be said
It’s the top of the end  (Dylan)

40 years ago this coming June i took the biggest leap of my life......at the age of barely 20  i left my home and family and everything i knew to join the United States Navy........truth be told i was terrified by the fact that my life was not my own.....i was in fact property of the US Government.......4 months later that Govt sent me to deserted tropical island in the center of the Indian Ocean for 1 surreal year........12 straight months without a phone, live TV or realtime contact with the outside world.......i survived it all.....and then i lost my brother.....nothing could have prepared me for that and i would never be the same.....never shocked again.....that was the greatest shock of my life....from that point on i mentally prepared for everyone i knew to die......as soon as i heard someone was sick i began preparing for their death....not morbid......just refusing to be caught off guard ...it was a difficult lesson ....but my self defense system would serve me well....and the next 3 years i barely flinched when sent to the Persian Gulf, Mediterranean Sea,  North Atlantic, Cuba , you name it......90 days drug ops.....6 month cruise......crossing the Libyan Line of Death......unfazed..........

25 years ago i took a much smaller leap.........i left Brooklyn for good and moved to the open spaces of Monmouth County....closer to family but leaving all my friends......close to the Ocean, close to the racetrack, plenty of golf courses....but i had to commute to the city....and shortly after i arrived i was knocked out of my seat by the impact of a 767 hitting my building......the 2nd biggest shock of my life.....i went into defense mode and mentally shut down.....on my way home i thought about everyone i knew on the street and on the Cops or Fire and i assumed they had perished..as calls rolled in for the next two weeks i just accepted the horrible news as confirmation.........perhaps spurred on by those events a few more friends came over the Goethals and did enjoy a wonderful 25 year run and i never regretted my time in Little Silver.......great yard, great pets, many parties.

Next week i leap again......this one feels different as i prepare to retire from Wall St after the summer also......i may take a job bartending or the starter on a golf course just to stay busy ....who knows........but having turned 60 i am also putting up the defense system and i am very much aware that as i say goodbye to people....it could be the last time i see them...or the last time they see me..........not morbid....just realistic......i am excited to turn the page and see what lies ahead in the Palmetto state.........i will sit in my new yard with my faithful companion (Matteau Matteau Matteau) and we will  drink cold beer and listen to soothing sounds of the Grateful Dead and the piercing lyrics of Mr. Dylan......i will continue the Blog and hope to be back in time for Sweater Nite......but i know people make plans....and God sometimes has other ideas in mind..........stay safe....stay well.......hope to see you all down the road a spell

2+3=BEEER

Grandma said, “Boy, go and follow your heart
And you’ll be fine at the end of the line
All that’s gold isn’t meant to shine
Don’t you and your one true love ever part”
I been walkin’ the road
I been livin’ on the edge
Now, I’ve just got to go
Before I get to the ledge
So I’m going
I’m just going
I’m gone

Thrasher

 It was then I knew I'd had enough

Burned my credit card for fuel
Headed out to where the pavement turns to sand
With a one-way ticket to the land of truth
And my suitcase in my hand
How I lost my friends I still don't understand  (N. Young)

2+3=Sneaker Bomber Beers

You don't need no Gypsy

to tell you why
Ya can't let one precious day to slip by
Look inside yourself, and if you don't see what you want
Maybe sometimes then you don't

But leave your mind alone and just get high, oh yeah (G. Allman)

tonight we head to the worlds' most famous arena to see a tribute to one of the worlds greatest bands . it'a slice of apple pie with a jack daniels chaser.......the Brothers Tribute to the Allman Brothers Band....giddy up

But meanwhile, I ain't a-wastin' time no more

'Cause time goes by like pourin' rain, and much faster things

 

slippin and a slidin

 and playin dominoes....

Lefting and then Righting,
it's not a crime you know.
You gotta tell your story boy,
before it's time to go.  (N. Young)

are you ready for the country ?

because it's time to go 

2+3=Palmetto brewing Company BEEER

China Town

 Chasing that old dragon down

Madam Wong's
We play the blues with the curtains drawn
Sidewalks of white
While the L.A. sun beat out the night
Pounding brain
My last transmission down the drain ( John Hiatt)

this has sure felt like a spin on the Cyclone.... a roller coaster ride for the ages.....i have spent all my sideline money.....i'm all in on equities...and i am confident...ride the wave......don't sell......this summer will be a rocket ship straight up...

Captain Chaos may have pulled off his biggest victory...... while the media was losing their minds over what they perceived as a switch in policy or even Trump caving....the truth was far from that.

I too wondered why the Donn put Tariffs on Everybody....at first i too couldn't rationalize why he was tariffing goods from countries that we barely trade with or countries that have been our friends......and then i caught an interview with Jamie Dimon on Maria and it was like a lightning strike.

Mr. Dimon said what we all know....Tariffs HAD to be implemented , and the time was Now.....we could not sustain for much longer on our current path of increasing debt and widening trade gaps........he also said that the tariffs , if implemented correctly; would accomplish two things.......weaken China , BUT also strengthen our friends........and that's when it Hit me..........who are our Friends ??   Let's find out.

And so by casting the widest net......one big enough to encapsulate the entire free world (and some commies) we would be given the chance to SEE how everyone reacts in crisis.......talk is cheap.....anyone can vow to stand with you....but let's drop the gauntlet and see who really does.

In the 72 hours that followed many countries in Europe  and the Pacific were approached by China in an offer to form an alliance against US trade.......those that sided with China have exposed themselves for what they are....fair weather acquaintances .......and more importantly the likes of Australia and others told China to Fuk off........have demonstrated that they are true Allies....that is a friend.

And so as China further isolates itself from the world.....the USA has learnt a great deal about the rest of the world......Canada is a lil bitch that will eventually get bitch slapped.....but Japan and India accepted the tariffs as part of doing business and wish to reach deals with the USA....they did not waiver, they did not cry, they did not increase their already high tariffs......you can watch golf all day......you can read a library's worth of books on how to play golf........but until you have to put your BEEER down and hit that Driver .....you can't say that you can play golf........and now we know who can and will play.......and who just dresses like Tiger and never leaves the clubhouse.....

2+3=BEEER

When the master of disaster
Gets tangled in his Telecaster
He can't play it any faster
When he plays the blues
When he had the heart to ask her
And every note just shook the plaster
Now he's just a mean old bastard
When he plays the blues
Now he's just a mean old bastard
When he plays the blues