i always said you could make it

 I know what I said and I meant it

I always liked the way you played guitar
I always knew that someday you'd go far
And if you do will anything happen? (Blondie)

the great Deborah Harry , aka Angela Trimble was singing about an unrequited love of a bandmate but her question could be applied to the world today and the mainstream media MSM. seriously, how many stories can they continue to ignore ?

the border ? now that Gavin Newsome has visited the border and warned of impending peril they may have to fake interest ....remember when Trump was President they all followed AOC to the border as she wept for the children in cages.....today those kids freeze to death on the roads of El Paso and the MSM yawns.

Twitter / Elon Musk ? probably the biggest story of the last 50 years and the MSM laughs it off or completely refuses to even cover it. the same people that lost their minds over fake Russian interference in our elections do not seem to be the least bit concerned about Big Tech and the Demonrat Party working together to censor and silence their political opponents.

Bankman-Fried and FTX: ...on november 11th FTX files for Bankruptcy......on Nov 13th Reuters reports that over 1 billion in investor funds are missing....since then SBF has remained free in the Bahamas...he has conducted dozens of interviews with the sympathetic left....late Nov it is revealed he gave close to 100 million to political candidates.....46 Demonrats and 4 Republicans.....in every story since then the MSM has reported that his attempted corruption to buy influence was Bipartisan ,,,,,46-4 ? does that really sound bipartisan ? laughable. On Tuesday SBF was scheduled to testify zia zoom under oath before Congress...this babbling fool, childish deer caught in the headlights was going to spill some beans......not so fast....Monday night the DOJ had him arrested......on the eve of possible damaging testimony...can't make that up. i wonder why it took 30 days to arrest him.....i wonder if he wasn't scheduled to testify if he would have remained free long enough to kill himself with thirteen shots to the back of his own head ??

polite society watches this world unravel and waits for the other shoe to drop....but even when the shoe drops in a Forest the sound is silenced.....may go to the Lincroft Inn for a pint and see if i run into Angie Trimble.

You always said that you would never change
Like the people that you've met and the places that you've been
And if you do will anything happen?
Will it come true will anything happen?
Will I see you again?
Will I see you again?

what have you done for me lately ?

 

Coach Ken Niumatalolo has been relieved of his duties as Head Football Coach at the Naval Acadamy.....15 years at the Helm, the winningest coach in Academy History,11 bowl appearance and  6 bowl victories, 6 Commander in Chief Trophy's and 11 wins and 5 losses verse Army.........but 3 straight losing seasons and double overtime loss to the Cadets of Army.....(2-5 verse Army in the last 7 years)....was he another victim of the pandemic ? the option offense takes extensive practice and is all about timing and quite frankly it was not clicking since 2019....but thanks for the Incredible Run Coach Ken...God Speed and following seas.

seems like I've been here before

Fuzzy then and still so obscure, good-bye, good-bye, good-bye, good-bye. (Bob Weir)

 eerily familiar...turnabout is fair play...deja vu all over again but with the roles reversed.

The squids were in control.....first OT in the history of Army-Navy was going to a second round after Navy completed their only pass attempt of the day ...a 25 yard strike to a wide open receiver in the endzone matched Army's score......and now the squids were going in again.....after they scored it will be time for their stingy defense to shut the door on the Black Knights on the hudson.....alas it was not meant to be.

Anton Hall had 99 yards rushing, he was on his way to a 2-yard plunge that would put his boxscore total over the century mark and probably be the game winning touchdown, but Austin Hill had something else in mind. The young Cadet somehow knocked the ball out and his teammate recovered on the 1-yard line, and a few minutes later Army kicked the decisive field goal.

it was 10 years and one day exactly since Army QB Trent Steelman was stripped of the ball on the 10 yard line as Army was marching down the field for the winning score, 12/9/2012.....Navy dove on the ball and ran out the last 60 seconds of clock back then....but yesterday it was Army's turn, Hats off to them and Congratulations.....tonight when i lay my head down on the pillow i will say a quick prayer for the anguish and emptiness that i am sure is engulfing Anton Hall Jr......HEAD UP Kid....your country needs you.....it wasn't all your fault...without your effort all season we wouldn't even have been in a position to win....stay positive.

amidst the Monmouth County chill, 14 lads managed to drink an oceans worth of beer and burn down a forest worth of wood.....Slainte

and i look to my left

 And I look to my right

And I'm looking for a man
I'm looking for a sign
I don't want to be the prisoner (the Clash)

Bo Bergdahl - Betsy Griner .....there ain't no difference between the two as Jackson Browne would say.....both hate America, both became prisoners as a result of their own stupid misguided actions, both were traded by the Demonrat in Charge for more dangerous folks that have killed and will kill again.... most likely American casualties too.

strange timing too......10 months in confinement....9 months after we implored the rest of the free world to isolate Russia because of Ukraine and stop buying oil....8 months after sleepy jo vowed to get her back, a full month after the election...why now?

maybe because the big tech interference in our election is being exposed and the MSM needs a distraction to justify ignoring Twitter and Hunter Biden..or maybe because Putin is close to losing a war and running out of drones, and he all of a sudden gets his best arms dealer back in the war room...maybe both

..who knows?  we all do , that's who.

another ugly chapter of hypocrisy in the destruction of a distracted nation. among the litany of egregious acts surrounding this prisoner swap was the laughable revelation by the WNBA Commissioner that the White House briefed her last week and said the swap meetings were intensifying and an exchange was imminent....i guess as commissioner of the WNBA she has a NEED TO KNOW.....and the lesbian wife in the white house for a video Op of the moment Joe said she's free .....that has Netflix documentary written all over it.

Your mother does the washing up
Your old man digs the garden
You're only free to dodge the cops
An' bunk the train to stardom

I don't wanna Be......the Prisoner....i don't wanna be....the Prisoner

i heard the news today , oh boy

 They hauled your ship up on the shore,

Now the city gone dark, there is no more joy,
They tore the heart right out and cut it to the core (Dylan)

that clip was from the Bob Dylan tribute song for John Lennon (Roll on John) and if youve never heard it, well do yourself a favor and give it a listen today....hell, even if you've heard it  a million times it is worth another listen today....because today is the 42 nd anniversary of his senseless assassination on the streets of NYC, in front of his home.....John lost his life, but the earth lost John.

i still feel the loss when i think of all the songs that were in him but never made it to paper....again, our loss as a species on earth....senseless stupidity.......hard to accept that Yoko and Paul ares till here to haunt us, but poor John was snuffed out in his prime.

Ah, people asking questions
Lost in confusion
Well, I tell them there's no problem
Only solutions
Well, they shake their heads and they look at me, as if I've lost my mind
I tell them there's no hurry, I'm just sitting here doing time

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round

I just had to let it go
I just had to let it go
I just had to let it go

leavin home, out on the road

 I've been down before

Ridin' along in this big ol' jet plane

I've been thinkin' about my home (S. Miller)

first and foremost..if anyone is flying the unfriendly skies this day, well; our thoughts and prayers are with you.

seriously though, just when you thought this administration could not possibly get dumber than they were a day prior...they one-up themselves. A bizarre story broke yesterday about Air Marshals being taken off planes, that's actually what their job description reads ( to ride commercial air traffic as an undercover agent) and they are being sent to the BORDER......no no no, not to perform duties in line with their policing background, but rather to perform menial tasks and assist the illegal immigrants crossing the border. A few Air Marshals spoke with Fox news and said they were ordered to take out trash, help illegals getting checked in at the border and driving injured illegals to medical facilities ......i swear that i wish this was the Onion and I was only joking....but it's true......so now as we approach the busy holiday travel season , securities experts are projecting that less than 10% of all flights will have an Air Marshall on board......makes you wonder if Mayorkas is hoping for a terrorist attack.

i remember a conversation i had with a few close friends in a tavern in the aftermath of 9/11....i was the only one in the group opposed to the Patriot Act....it would have been easy to go with the flow and support the sweeping evaporation of our freedoms in an effort to prevent another attack , but i warned/reminded my cohorts that George Bush would not be President for life and his Administration would be replaced.....and all the powers we handed over to that sitting President would be given to all his successors.....and sadly a short 20+ years later our HOMELAND SECURITY is now the Biggest Threat to , well, homeland security.........sing it Stevie

But my heart keeps calling me backwards
As I get on the 707
Ridin' high I got tears in my eyes
You know you got to go through hell
Before you get to heaven

i'm walking through the summer nights

 Jukebox playing low

Yesterday everything was going too fast
Today, it’s moving too slow
I got no place left to turn
I got nothing left to burn (Dylan)

i have some explaining to do about yesterday's post. First off , sincere thanks for the concerns and kind words of all of you that reached out....i was caught off guard by how quickly i received reactions from the sweater nite universe.

Yesterday i was in the process of converting that last 10 years of this Blog into a hardcover book, and while i was editing (no spellchecks or grammar changes, i wanted my 5:00 a.m. train mistakes to remain in their original form)....i was choosing a cover photo and layout and of course a dedication when i realized that i needed a closing post.( so in 100 years from now when someone on saturn finds this book in an earthly relic Bin in their version of the Salvation Army and takes it back to the spaceship to read,  they will have a conclusion) so i typed the epilogue ending and warning of the govt censors and i fully intended to delete it after i moved it into the book version.....but the proverbial Kat was out of the Bag ...but rest assured i am not concluding the online version......so if it suddenly ends tomorrow it will be at the greasy palms of the FBI.

hey hey, whatta ya say....kick the ball the other way .......that's what i was chanting in the Redrock yesterday and sure enough ol team USA advanced the ball downfield and scored the only goal of the game in a thrillin 1-nil victory over iRAN........we pronounce it just like the Flock of Seagulls song of the same name...and now it's on to face the Netherlands and their Tennesee Orange Jerseys and bags of magic mushrooms no doubt.

one disturbing note about this team is the head coach....for the first 2 games of the tournament he wore a T-shirt with the word STATES printed on it.....as if we are just a collection of states...(yesterday he wore a black t-shirt with absolutely nothing printed on the front , and our flag ON THE BACK) ..no mention of the word UNITED.....no mention of the most important word AMERICA.....just states and of course the NIKE emblem ( i refuse to call it a swoosh).....i'm not 100% certain that he intended to make a statement with this bizarre shirt but i am dam sure that  some communist self-loathsome piece of feces at nike HQ was making a statement....these are the same scumbags that called the Betsy Ross flag racist....which i am glad they did because i went out and bought a dozen and have been flying them in front of my house ever since......so don't mind me if i temper my enthusiasm for this team entirely...alas my reservations will not prevent me from gathering in a barroom saturday morning with a USA Flag shirt and a healthy pouring of my favorite ale to root this country forward....my distaste for the liberal factions in this country will not outweigh my feverish patriotism....but long after they are gone (me too) Old Glory will still fly high God Willing...(.i stole the Flag photo below from Mr Mulligans facebook account)

I see nothing to be gained by any explanation
There are no words that need to be said
You left me standing in the doorway crying
Blues wrapped around my head

epilogue

 

I see you've got your list out

Say your piece and get out

Yes I get the gist of it

but it's all right

Oh well a Touch Of Grey
Kind of suits you anyway.
That was all I had to say
It's all right.  (Hunter-Garcia)

i have had a lot to say on this blog over the years, hopefully some of it was though provoking, and hopefully it brought some laughs, i'm not going anywhere by my own choice, but alas we don't always get the last word on that.....slainte"

Thanksgiving

 Great Day to be Grateful....so many things to be thankful for ....a lifetime of people , places and things that lead us to this day....it's good to take a break from the world and just reflect on all that we have....and well....be grateful.

Slainte' to one and all , I hope everyone is happy, healthy and well.....raise a glass this day and count our blessings....Peace

twas a dark day in dallas- november 63

 The day that will live on in infamy

President Kennedy was riding high
A good day to be living and a good day to die
Being led to the slaughter like a sacrificial lamb
Say wait a minute boys, do you know who I am?
Of course we do, we know who you are
Then they blew off his head when he was still in the car (Dylan)

had to open with a reference to the news of the day 59 years ago, as only Mr Dylan could.

turn on your TV any evening or weekend and watch some sports on the tube and some self-righteous windbag announcer will get on his soap box and preach down to the masses.... he will tell you how nobody believed in so and so.....how these heroes overcame hardship or those annoying off the field distractions ( that's code for DUI's, domestic assaults, paternity suits etc etc) how nobody works harder or wants to win more than player A, B, C or whomever is next on the depth chart...superfluous nonsense...they will share these profiles in courage so often that they lose their meaning.

Yesterday in the World of Sports there were some real profiles in Courage....took a few seconds for it to register with me as i was working and watching....but as they played the Iranian National Anthem before the match with England, the Iranian players stood stone faced, emotionless and refused to sing. They remained silent in solidarity with their countrymen and women back home who are protesting nightly against the Regime. They basically signed their own death warrants, it was later reported that the Government run Iranian TV had blocked the anthem from being shown on state TV. (Hopefully somehow word got through to the protesters) I would hate for these actions to go unnoticed by the masses.   As for the players? i suppose they can try to defect, but i doubt they are safe in Quatar...or they can return home to certain persecution, hard labor for life and possibly even death. In case you have not heard a young woman was killed while in police custody this summer for the crime of not wearing a head scarfe. The Nation of Iran has been taking to the streets to protest nightly and the US media has largely ignored it. The Regime of our biggest international threat is on the ropes and our State Dept can't even issue a message of hope to the Freedom protesters....but hey we did nothing for the Canadian Truckers, the Venezuelan uprising and the last time Iran rose up during the Arab spring....apparently the land of the free doesn't have the stomach to support Freedom anymore.....ask Honk Kong or Taiwan if you aren't sure.

but come saturday we'll hear the gut wrenching tale of some defensive lineman who has heroically been able to sack quaterbacks despite being arrested for throwing his pregnant girlfriend down a flight of stairs , ......nobody wants to win more......NOBODY i say.

Air Force One coming in through the gate
Johnson sworn in at two thirty-eight
Let me know when you decide to throw in the towel
It is what it is and it’s murder most foul

no beeeeeer for anyone

 Breaking News.....the tiny Nation of Quatar ...on the Eve of the World Cup , has reversed course and decided NOT to allow alcohol sales inside the stadiums or in the country....they previously agreed to allow Beeeeer sales during the World Cup matches and in Hotels .

idiotic fans that traveled there are screwed.

Budweiser, the proud sponsor; is screwed....how many million cases of brew have already been shipped is anyones'  guess...but i read last week that AB had hundreds of millions of pint cans on standby in London to be filled and shipped daily should the Quatar supply dwindle......don't forget the tourney runs for almost a month......Good old corrupt FIFA strikes again.......

 

I pity the poor immigrant

 Who wishes he would’ve stayed home

Who uses all his power to do evil
But in the end is always left so alone  (Dylan)

that was fast....chuck the schmuck schumer didn't even wait for a sunday afternoon press conference to grab a microphone and call for the immediate legalization of the "11 million or whatever the number is" of illegals currently in the country to be granted citizenship.

strange under 8 years of power under obama the demonrats did not do this ......and when Trump took office, he immediately called Nancy & Chuck to the oval office to work out a deal for DACA in exchange for border security and the demonrats said no. and the past 2 years with full control of Congress, Senate and Oval office and yet again the demonrats did not lift a finger to grant citizenship or to secure the border ......why now?

because as i have talked about with abortion....the demonrats do NOT want to SOLVE a problem , when they can instead keep the fish on the line and campaign on the issue.....chuck is praying the newly elected Republican Congress rejects his plans so that ALL demonrats can run on the immigration issue in the next few cycles and try desperately to win back some of the Latinos that are leaving their party in droves.......but hey, if not, they are replacing them with 200,000 illegals per month waltzing across the border.

That man whom with his fingers cheats
And who lies with ev’ry breath
Who passionately hates his life
And likewise, fears his death

Am i in my cabin dreaming ?

 Or are you really scheming

To take my ship away from me? (Grand Funk Railroad)

i was working hard at my pub table in my barroom yesterday when i was startled by a call from a loyal lieutenant in the Borough of Churches. (the good news is that nobody passed away) but the alarm bell he sounded shook me from head to toe and sent a chill down my spine. This Thing of Ours.....our un-trademarked stranglehold on the Sweater Nite tradition was under attack. Lt Mcevoy was approached by someone plotting to host a SWEATER NITE party in Long Beach Long Island and was even so bold as to reach out to Mac and inquire as to where he could buy Koozies. This interloper has attended several Sweater Nites over the years and was always welcomed and treated kindly, for him to misappropriate our culture and claim it for his own, to try to sell it to the rubes of Nasau County without so much as an acknowledgement to its origins .... well, that is sacrilege. I hereby issue an edict for everyone to write down the name Terrence Mulligan......have you written it down?  well strike a line through it...and never speak his name again. We need to circle the wagons.... only invited guests will be permitted behinds the walls of the PC's Vatican this February...this year's letter will contain a special admittance coupon that will be carefully inspected by the security detail of Spears and Uncle Alex......guests will also have to utter the secret password ( Chick Peas) to gain entry..."swordfish? no, that's the old password, we changed it......remember .... loose lips sink ships.

I can feel the hand of a stranger
And it's tightening around my throat
Heaven help me, Heaven help me
Take this stranger from my boat

like the stillness in the wind

 ’Fore the hurricane begins

The hour when the ship comes in (Dylan)

today i think fondly of every crazy SOB that i had the good fortune to serve with in the United States Navy. Every race, creed and color.......from all regions of the nation and even every economic class. From the Indian Ocean to the Persian Gulf....the Mediterranean Sea to the shores of Jacksonville....The North Atlantic to the Carribean ........being trolled by the Russians and Iranians and drinking with the Britts. 

4 short years that seemed to last a lifetime , 4 short years that did more to shape me as a person than 13 years of schooling . I am lucky to still be in touch with a half dozen of the best guys i served with and considering we did not have cell phones back then and had to track each other down on the internet 20 plus years after last serving together....well, that says a lot about the respect and friendship we shared.

Voluntary Military service...it is what sets us apart from our allies and foes..........thanks to ALL who have worn the uniform and served this GREAT Nation.

Oh the seas will split
And the ship will hit
And the sands on the shoreline will be shaking
Then the tide will sound
And the wind will pound
And the morning will be breaking

They say you're using voodoo

 I seen your feet walk by themselves

Oh, baby, that god you been prayin’ to

Is gonna give ya back what you’re wishin’ on someone else (Dylan)

if you or someone you know had the misfortune of using the N word or even liking a Tweet or Post or Movie or Song (except rap) that used the N word....even if it was back in high school....you are in danger of being cancelled by the woke mob.....no place in society for hate speech.....no forgiveness ...or rationalization acceptable.....you lose your job, TV show, concert gig, whatever.

enter Kyrie Irving.....he likes a movie that attacks the Jews for stealing their religion from the blacks and faking the holocaust, accuses the Jews of secretly controlling the govt and country and worshipping Satan......wait for it.....cricketts....no outrage....no protests (except a few hasidics in the front row of the game) no sponsors leaving.......no reaction from teammate Durant , no reaction from Kinh James..oh well...move on.

It was early in the mornin’, I seen your shadow in the door
Now, I don’t have to ask nobody
I know what you come here for

if my words did glow

 with the gold of sunshine

And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung

Would you hear my voice come through the music

Would you hold it near as it were your own?  ( Garcia-Hunter)

those were the words Bob Weir used to greet the faithful on Halloween night 2019. He wore a kilt to honor the recently departed Robert Hunter and he strapped on an acoustic guitar. That set the tone for the best night of music ever played by this current edition of Dead & Company. The lads rocked good old Madison Square Garden for possibly their final time, it was quite the show ...and if it ends up being the last time i attend an event at MSG , well; i'm okay with that. We spent the pregame in the soon to be shuttered (maybe) Molly Wee pub with some of the closest friends i have. it was 2019 , but it could have been 1979, 89, 99 or whenever. The world was on the precipice of a global pandemic, the city of NY was about to be shut down and spiral into a lawless cocoon of chaos and incivility...but for 3 1/2 hours we stood on the Chase Bridge drinking ice cold refreshing beer and listening to the songs of our youth.....the world is a strange place, but every now and again it still spins in a favorable direction.

There is a road, no simple highway

Between the dawn and the dark of night

And if you go no one may follow

That path is for your steps alone

That's a big ten-four

 From your back door

Just put that hammer down (J. Browne)

not sure if that's what the Police said to the intruder at Nancy's House, but maybe they did.

I was talking to someone when the story broke and we joked that the libs were probably trying to tie this back to Jan 6th, that's why there was such a delay in releasing information.....well, it wasn't a joke.

the perp was not a citizen, he was in the country illegally from Canada, he had a long rap sheet and violent crimes.... but of course, he was not considered for deportation because the city by the bay is a Sanctuary city...so how do we tie this to Trump and the Maga crowd?

suddenly late last night brain dead Paul remembered that the perp was asking Where's Nancy ...hey wasn't that the same thing some of the Jan 6th peaceful protestors were wondering aloud? bingo, there's our connection.... it's Trumps Fault after all.

This young man feels
Those eighteen wheels
That keep turning 'round to take me down to Shaky Town

Rat in a train ditch

 Caught on a limb

You know better but
I know him  (Hunter-Garcia)

well NYC came in 2nd place again....for the 8th straight year Chicago took home the price for the most rat-infested city in the US...the rotten apple was second. The Adams family of idiots have a plan to reduce the rat population even more....Garbage that used to be placed at the curb at 4:00 p.m. the day prior to pickup can now only be placed at the curb after 8:00 p.m....you do not need a 3rd grade diploma to realize this will have zero impact on the rat population, it's just a delay before the dinner buffet opens....but what it will do is perhaps keep the rats underground until after sunset......because if we do not see it then it doesn't really happen, it should reduce the # of calls to 311 for rat spotting. I was floored to read how many calls the city receives from people reporting rat sightings...why would anyone waste their time by picking up a phone to alert the city to a rat sighting? it has to be these transplanted hipsters from the suburbs who actually believe that the city gives a rats' ass about a rat sighting.

i'm sure you remember my advice to Donald Trump on the eve of his debate with Joe Biden....I implored the Donn to behave, stay calm, state his administrations achievements and above all else allow Joe Biden to speak uninterrupted. Trump couldn't do it, he shouted, interrupted and acted like a child...thus alienating a lot of people who were tired of the political discourse in the country but more importantly he stopped Biden from freelance speech and putting his foot in his mouth......thankfully Senate Candidate Oz got the memo,,,,he let Fettermen ramble uninterrupted and the whole country saw that this recovering stroke victim is a lost aimless, clueless simpleton. 

a direct quote when asked when and why his previous "on the record position" opposing Fracking changed   

"I do support fracking, and I don’t, I don’t — I support fracking, and I stand, and I do support fracking."

yep, well imagine what we missed because Trump wouldn't let Biden speak.

a friend of this blog and all around good running back, Herschel Walker seems to be in trouble in Georgia. a 2nd woman has come forward to say he pressured her to have an abortion...and the people who support abortion up to an including the moment of birth find this too troublesome.is it too late to retroactively allow Georgis to secede from the Nation?

looks like the Railroad strike that dementia Joe settled in September is back on ....call me crazy, but is it possible POTUS asked his union friends to delay this disastrous strike until AFTER the midterms?  quid-pro-quo? what were they promised for this delay? what was Saudi Arabia/OPEC offered if they delayed oil production cuts until after the Mid terms. 

so many commercials calling Republicans too extreme because they will not allow an abortion exception for incest and rape ...i had to look it up...what % of the 1 million annual abortions performed in the USA are for these reasons?  rape approx 1% , incest less than .5% ........so why oppose such a small number? well because if the exception becomes law, suddenly every unwanted pregnancy will miraculously be the result of rape or incest. i am definitely conflicted when it comes to abortion, part of me thinks there is nothing worse than bringing an unwanted child into the world, but on the other side is the fact that a heartbeat is LIFE...we have seen the images of faces forming and expressing emotion in the womb...if society cannot stick up for the most vulnerable amongst us, then we aren't much of a society after all.

hey, who won the world series? i can't find the results anywhere.

Going where the wind don't blow so strange
Maybe on some high cold mountain range
Lost one round but the price wasn't anything
Knife in a back and more of the same
Same old rat in a drain ditch
Out on a limb
You know better but I know him

well i beat the drum, and hold the phone

 The sun came out today

We're born again, there's new grass on the field (Fogerty)

i have been listening to Boomer & Gio all week to the callers complaining about the yankees and specifically Brian Cashman...i have tried unsuccessfully to call into the show....i will instead share my thoughts here.

I think Cashman was brilliant in his handling of the Judge situation.....he made a fair offer before the season and Judge refused....so Cashman leaked the offer to the media so the fans know that the team made a decent attempt to keep their star player... i think somewhere in the Yankee brain trust meetings there was a fair suspicion of Judge's ability to stay healthy for an entire season...I think they surmised that if Judge could not stay on the field for 155 plus games while in a WALK contract year, well then he just will never be able to stay on the field. I think they also considered that a contract motivated Judge would not only stay on the field but would be incredibly focused throughout the season since there were Hundreds of Millions of dollars on the line.....i'm not saying they thought he would hit 62 HR's but i think they were hoping he would tear the leather off the ball all year and lead the team to the World Series.

now from a financial standpoint....Judge's historic season made the Yankees a lot of Mullah.....increased attendance, TV Ratings and of course Jersey Sales all contributed to a big year for the Steingrabbers.......side note....if Judge walks...all those people will eventually have to find a new favorite Yankee and replace their #99 jerseys. (unlike when a player retires, it's NOT OK to wear the jersey of a player who leaves the team in free agency)

Is he worth it?  the money, Maybe....the extended years, NO......but two things you must consider....when faced with a white hot spotlight and increased pressure at two times....the pursuit of Maris in the last 3 weeks and the postseason.....MR. Judge crawled inside a shell and disappeared......i looked it up....in 44 career playoff games he has hit 13 homers with 66K's and a .211 average.....i know that is probably in line with most of today's players....but it tells me he is not worth the cash.

speaking of Cash(man).....if he keeps his job, that should tell you one thing....he is doing exactly what the owners are asking him to do.....sure everybody wants to win the World Series , but i suspect his marching orders are first and foremost, to keep us relevant without breaking the bank...and he does that.

now, why didn't this team win the WS ? i tie it back to the early season altercation between Josh Donaldson and Tim Anderson of the White Sox.....nobody on the Yankees came to his defense.... the Yanks have ZERO chemistry and a lot of it goes back to Donaldson...he is not liked, i think the black players view him as a racist and the white players just think he is a jerk.... i think that locker room is fractured...they are not a TEAM and they certainly didn't seem to be having fun.....all you have to do is look at the Phillies and see that Chemistry is priceless.....but hey, what do i know...i'm a met fan.

Well, I spent some time in the Mudville Nine
Watching it from the bench
You know I took some lumps
When the Mighty Casey struck out

every nerve in my body

 is so vacant and numb

I can’t even remember what it was I came here to get away from (Dylan)

a million heartbreaking stories in the big city every day, we can't possibly talk about them all...but sometimes a story just reaches down into your body and rips your heart right out.....case in point Henriberto Quintana ......he was on the platform in Jackson Heights on Monday afternoon  when he bumped into an apparent heartless, soulless, vacant scumbag named carlos garcia......garcia dropped his phone onto the train tracks.....and insisted that Quintana retrieve it.....the 48 year old father of 3 said NO...and a fight ensued......garcia threw the victim onto the tracks as the train approached and Quintana was struck and killed.

in addition to 3 kids, Quintana leaves behind a widow who was waiting patiently for her husband to return from work to take her to her dialysis appointment....she is sick and unable to work....her husband switched jobs so that he could make it home by 5:00 to take her to her weekly appointments...otherwise he would never have been on that platform....his new job required him to leave his house at 4:30 every morning....13 hour days of construction to support a sick wife and 3 children.....a hard working, contributing member of society snuffed out by a career criminal and scumbag.

if there was a God that ruled this planet sometime long ago....i think he too grew disgusted and took a shuttle to a new galaxy....we are a hopeless, aimless collection of matter...speeding our way to oblivion.

have a whiskey, play the stereo, retreat.

Don’t even hear a murmur of a prayer
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

well this life that i live, it took me everywhere

 There ain't no place I ain't never gone

Well it's kind of like the sayin
That you heard so many times
Well, there just ain't no place like home (Van Zant/Collins)

talk about a swing in emotions....in 1977 i went from the euphoria on October 18th of attending the Reggie Jackson 3 HR game to win the World Series, to just 2 days later the sad depths of being woken up by my brother to the news that the Lynyrd Skynyrd tour plane had crashed, and the great Ronnie Van Zant was dead.

Skynyrd was on the precipice of becoming one of the Top bands in the world, the American version of the Rolling Stones. They were scheduled to play MSG in November and that would have been the launching pad to international stardom. 45 years later, despite being struck down before their prime; they remain on par with the Allman Brothers as the greatest band to come out of the American South.

Ronnie, the Jacksonville Kid; had all the qualities we admire in our Rock Stars....charisma, funny, hard drinker, unique voice, storyteller and a badass not afraid to tell Mr. Young where to go...the band had just released "Gimme Back my Bullets" in 76 and played a few nights at the Winterland in San Francsico to great reviews...(do yourself a favor and find the tapes from those shows....crisp, raw, rock n roll) a stint at MSG would have put them over the top. Alas it was not meant to be i suppose.... on October 20th 1977, on a flight from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge their plane ran out of fuel....26 people were onboard.... Ronnie, Steve & Cassie Gaines, the Road Manager and 2 pilots lost their lives....20 people managed to survive. (i had the good fortune of seeing one of the survivors Artimus Pyle this summer at the Basie) i often wonder what might have been had that plane not gone down.

anyway...clearly.....it's a whiskey day for me......and tons of Skynyrd on the stereo......i'll leave you with one of the last lyrics he wrote from the same song we opened with.... Rest in Peace Ronnie, from Rober E Lee High School in Duvall County to the streets of Brooklyn and beyond, you were loved, admired and terribly missed.

And Lord I can't make any changes
All I can do is write 'em in a song
'Cause when I can see the concrete a slowly creepin'
Lord take me and mine before that comes

well , your railroad gate

 you know I just can’t jump it

Sometimes it gets so hard, you see

I’m just sitting here beating on my trumpet
With all these promises you left for me
But where are you tonight, sweet Marie? (Dylan)

this has been a kind of vindication week for me.....the other day my thoughts on deliberate bankruptcy were echoed on Mornings with Maria and just yesterday the POTUS proved my point that politicians have no desire to solve a problem if they can keep voters dangling on fear of the original problem.

In February a leaked document indicated the SCOTUS was going to overturn Roe V Wade....the Demonrats went crazy, raised $$ and did absolutely nothing.

In June SCOTUS did in fact overturn Roe V Wade....the Demonrats vowed to codify, raised money, invoked fear...stoked the flames of discontent, promised a summer of hell, encouraged protestors and demonstrators to go after the Conservative justices ...but essentially did nothing with regards to abortion (righst?) 

Yesterday the Marie Antoinette of  the American Presidency, the ice cream eater in Chief said that he will urge congress to codify Roe V Wade...not today....not tomorrow......in January....BUT.....Only if the Demonrats do well enough in the midterms to "have the numbers" in Congress.......so he forgave student debt in effort to gain votes, he depleted our National Oil Reserve and he begged OPEC to delay their announcement on reducing oil production in an effort to keep gas prices low to gain votes, he convinced the Rail Workers not to reject his negotiated deal until after the elections in an effort to delay the impact of their strike and of course gain votes.....but Trump was impeached for telling the Ukraine we ain't giving you millions in financial aid until you clean out the corruption in your govt.

and as inflation roars, gas, heat, food and other staples soar....the POTUS eats his ice cream like a simpleton and says our economy is strong as hell and inflation is worse elsewhere......i wonder if that fat jigg reporter from PBS is still crying because Trump had the audacity to compare our COVID #'s to other countries in April of 2020. (it's not a competition boo hoo).

nice to see the National Organization of Woman and all the Pussy Hat lesbians come out in support of the Iranian journalist murdered by her Govt for refusing to wear a Hijab...and then they came to the Defense of Liz Truss , the new female PM of Great Britian for the harsh treatment she received by the media after only 3 weeks on the job.......yeah, well , cricketts.

Well, I don’t know how it happened
But the riverboat captain, he knows my fate
But ev’rybody else, even yourself
They’re just gonna have to wait

ahhh, but where are you tonight Sweet Marie ?

the silicon chip inside her head

 Gets switched to overload

And nobody's gonna go to school today

She's gonna make them stay at home (B. Geldoff)

that of course is classic tale from the Boomtown Rats (I don't like Mondays) and although today may be dreary i will try to contain my disdain and just stick to the bullet points.

let's start with sports...i know the games have changed and we just have to accept that....but how is it possible that the Yankees...after winning their division and having a week off before the post season started, have to go with a Bullpen game in their deciding game 5 tonight against the Tribe? i refuse to view this as progress...i honestly think professional sports are deteriorating to an unwatchable state.....i still care, i still check my phone every morning to get the prior nights scores....whatever sport is in season i am following it...but the actual games are either too long, too late or too hard to find on 1 of a million streaming services and channels....and i may not be alone......the Mets were 3,000 tix shy of a sellout in a deciding game 3...and as of this writing tickets are still available at face value for the yankees game 5.

I stand corrected....I must have misunderstood or misheard the MLB network last night....The Yanks are starting Taillon tonight and his is indeed a Starting Pitcher.........i apologize to anyone who may have been offended by my gaffe. 

how about Homeland security.....they are now hiring....the positions available of the DOD website include basic maid services....food prep.....checking people in and tagging their belongings .....but please remember that Kamala giggles and says the border is closed.....but just in case you illegally cross into our country we will have our DHS employees show you to your red carpeted hotel room.

side note...was watching a netflix doc on John Mcaffee....in 2014 he escaped Belize and snuck into Guatemala ...an American citizen with a valid passport and he was worried about being arrested in the central American country for illegal entry and not having his passport stamped when leaving Belize....he says on camera that they will throw him in jail for 10 years unless he can bribe an official to stamp his passport......but all are welcome with cell phones and open arms at our southern border.

I have been saying for years that we are on a path to destruction in the US...and i think some people are catching on....Maria Bartiromo had a guest on last week and he said the carefree spending and economic moves by the current administration are more than just incompetent...he feels they are deliberately trying to bankrupt the country....we've been saying that for years....but why you might ask .....the world learnt after WWII that you will never defeat a UNITED States of America....we will fight to the death if ever attacked...we can only be destroyed from within........if you offer a man a bologna sandwhich he may scoff and ignore your offer.......but if you offer stale bread to starving man he will crawl across broken glass just to get the crumbs....and when this country is broke, when unemployment skyrockets, when people freeze to death in the winter and starve to death in the summer, that's when they will accept the Govt Nationlizing Big Oil or confiscating your guns if they promise you food and shelter.....but hey, it's only Monday...giddy up.

And all the playing's stopped in the playground now
She wants to play with the toys a while
And school's out early and soon we be learning
And the lesson today is how to die

all that foreign oil

controlling American soil
Look around you, it’s just bound to make you embarrassed
Sheiks walkin’ around like kings,  Wearing fancy jewels and nose rings
Deciding America’s future from Amsterdam and to Paris
And there’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend (Dylan)

i frequently come back to this song......it has stood the test of time and is as relevant, if not more relevant; than when Bob first penned this in 1979. 

On Monday, Opec announced they were cutting oil production because of the looming global recession and expected reduction in demand. A business decision they are entitled to make and one that most US economist and Jamie Dimon have been predicting for months.

On Tuesday the Demonrats lashed out at Saudi Arabia ...suspected pedophile and accused child rapist Bob Menendez vowed to cut arms sales to the saudis , and the demented Chief said the saudis will be "Punished" for this decision.....interesting.

and yesterday the Saudis released a statement saying the White House pleaded with the Saudis and OPEC to delay this announcement and action for another month...until AFTER the mid terms elections....because they don't care if gas soars to $10 a gallon and the country is paralyzed ...they just don't want it to happen until after the election.....i wonder if we offered them anything for this delay ? if so it sounds like Quid Pro Quo ....when can we expect the impeachment hearings ?

we all have seen the homeless population in NYC over the past 10-20-30 years increase....homeless encampments under every highway overpass....the subways, penn station, battery park, you name it....and the city response has been minimal.......all of a sudden Gov Abbot start bussing "Illegal" aliens up from the border towns in Texas and in the blink of an eye Mayor Adams is Building a tent City on Randalls Island....and stating the City will spend a Billion dollars....i hope the wharf rats and sad sacks that have roamed our streets and eaten out of garbage cans for years, the lost souls of the 5 boroughs who are surviving on Boones Farm and the kindness of strangers are also welcome in Adamsville NYC.

Hochul and Adams are now demanding a Federal response and this close to an election you know they will get it.... considering these migrants were probably headed to astoria anyway, Gov Abbot did the city a favor by bringing this story to the national media with his busses. 

i was disappointed to see the outrageous prices that Dead & Co were asking in yesterday presale for concerts to be held in the summer of 2023.......$160.00 plus fees for the upper tier in Fenway......$500 + for the lower level at Saratoga.....add in hotels, travel and beeeeeer and i am afraid a road trip is out of the question.

I was very pleased to See Bob Weir and the Wolf Bros last week in the district....we were celebrating our Anniversary of 29 years living together and Bobby Ace gave us a present by encoring with a cover of Buddy Holly's NOT FADE AWAY ...whic happens to be our wedding song...thanks Bob.

sad news out of Bayridge yesterday, the class of OLA 1979 lost Angela Connolly suddenly, a true pillar of the community she will be missed.

Larry Kudlow insists the Cavalry is on the way...i fear it's too late.

Sometimes I feel so low-down and disgusted
Can’t help but wonder what’s happenin’ to my companions
Are they lost or are they found
Have they counted the cost it’ll take to bring down
All their earthly principles they’re gonna have to abandon?
There’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend

sure was a good idea

 till greed got in the way (Dylan)

MLB has cost the Mets a division title...while the Mets split 4 games against the 100-win Yankees......the Bravos (who did not have to play the yanks this year) took 3 of 4 against their "rivals" the lowly Redsox...and there is your 1 game difference. So when the Wilpons insisted that the Mets play the Yankee$$ every year $$$, they wrote this destiny...but hey...inter-league play was a gift to the fans...

but hey , forget all that..it's playoff time......so you have tickets for game 1 ...how exciting.....do you need to take a full day off? (early game), a half day off ? (late afternoon game), or can you go to work and attend the evening game Friday night? it's 48 hours away,,,,i'm sure your boss would like to know if you are working Friday....but MLB has still not released the start times for fridays 4 games....guess the network nerds are crunching numbers to see which will provide the best TV ratings....you? F you, we'll tell you when we are good and ready sucker.

side note.... you know those clowns who screamed and yelled that they didn't want to go back to the office because they were perfectly capable of doing their jobs from home? (yes,that would include me) well the Coporations were listening....and some have concluded that if YOU can do the job from your couch in the suburbs...well.... someone in mississippi, new mexico, india or fill in the blank can be trained to do your job from their couch...for half pay of course 

take it way Bob

Democracy don’t rule the world

You’d better get that in your head

This world is ruled by violence

But I guess that’s better left unsaid

From Broadway to the Milky Way

That’s a lot of territory indeed

And a man’s gonna do what he has to do

When he’s got a hungry mouth to feed