The third operator steams a singer.

The third operator steams a singer. A zinger of a stinger it is.

Joe Girardi’s disaster in the Bronx

The 2009 World Series at Yankee Stadium

I could feel it coming, that sense of dread that something awful was about to happen. The hairs on my arms rose and I began to shout “NO! NO! NO!”, as though my plea could be heard across the country, would somehow stop the nightmare about to unfold in the Bronx. It was the sixth inning of the fourth game, and AJ Burnett had done all that one could hope for, actually had his team ahead by a run, 3-2, but was in the early stages of a meltdown. Burnett was transitioning from very good to awful, a journey he’s made many times this season. And in the Yankees dugout, the chief enabler, manager Joe Girardi, was not only about to let it happen, but was actually greasing the skids. In a decision that even kindly could be called bone-headed, and a whole lot worse in the kind of place where Yankee fans drown their sorrows as stupidity unfolds, Girardi signaled to intentionally walk Dave Murphy, to get to Bengie Molina. Now generally it’s not the best idea to put the go-ahead run on base (Vladimir Guerrero had singled to start the inning), but somehow Girardi reasoned that Molina, who has all the base running speed of the nearest tree, could be induced to hit into a double play. Never mind that Molina was 8 for 24 in this series. Never mind that Molina had burned the Yankees for three homers in the ALCS in 2006. And that he had 16 post season RBIs on his resume. And forget the fact that there was a bullpen full of relief pitchers at the ready. No, let’s stay with Burnett and see if he can get a ground ball out of Molina. Yeah, that’s a good idea.

 

So as the next pitch sailed into the left field stands to give the Rangers a 5-3 lead, I thought of game three, and Pettitte’s superb performance, holding the Rangers to 2 runs going into the ninth. In that game, Girardi decided to bring in Dave Robertson, who got hammered for 6 runs. At some point, maybe after the first hit, or maybe the second, you’d think that Girardi would have brought in Rivera – the greatest closer in the history of the game – to stop the bleeding. But Mariano watched the rest of the inning from the bullpen, watched the game slip away, 8-0.

The Yankees have been pitching-challenged for the latter half of the season. They’ve overcome that challenge with a powerful hitting attack and a great bullpen. But they can’t overcome the challenge in the dugout, the challenge of the bone-headed decisions made by No. 28, Joe Girardi. Either or both of these last two games could have been won, except for the total inability of Girardi to see the obvious, and to do something.

So now the Yankees are one game away from elimination, and I can feel the hairs on my arms rising again.

Obama Eligibility Case Filed With US Supreme Court

Attorney Mario Apuzzo of Jamesburg, NJ, who has filed several suits challenging Barack Obama’s legitimacy as president under Article II of the Constitution, today (Oct. 1, 2010) filed a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington DC. The plaintiffs, Charles F. Kerchner, Jr., Lehigh County, PA; Lowell T. Patterson, Burlington County, NJ; Darrell J. LeNormand, Middlesex County, NJ; and Donald H. Nelsen, Jr., Middlesex County, NJ, are challenging a lower court decision which affirmed the dismissal of an earlier lawsuit that alleged Obama is ineligible to hold office as he is not a Natural Born citizen as Article II, Section 1 specifies.

Obama was born a British Subject/Citizen to a British Subject/Citizen father and a U.S. citizen mother. Obama’s father was not a U.S. Citizen and never intended to be one. Obama’s father was never even an immigrant to the USA nor was he even a permanent legal resident. According to this lawsuit, Obama was born a dual-citizen with dual allegiance and loyalty and is therefore not constitutionally eligible to be the President and Commander-in-Chief of our military.

The Bensonhurst Bomber

The name of my blog is derived from an episode of the classic television show The Honeymooners. For those unfamiliar with the show, this fifties era comedy starred the original Great One, (long before Mark Levin, who uses the show’s theme music) Jackie Gleason, as Ralph Kramden. Audrey Meadows plays his long-suffering wife, Alice, Art Carney his upstairs neighbor and best friend Ed Norton, and Joyce Randolph plays Trixie, Norton’s wife.

Kramden is a Bensonhurst bus driver whose dreams of a better life often lead him into wild schemes, while the ever skeptical Alice is either kept in the dark or stands aside, like an oracle warning of doom. Best pal Norton either lends a hand, often digging a deeper hole for Ralph to crawl out of, or serves as rival.

Ralph and Alice arguing (Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows)

In the end, Ralph’s plans usually fail, but with Alice telling him that she loves him, he looks forward to another day. And another scheme.

The Bensonhurst Bomber episode begins with Ralph and Ed chasing a wimpish fellow away from a pool table. The wimp returns with his pool partner, Harvey, who challenges Ralph to a boxing match at the local gym. It’s a great episode, with Ralph desperately trying to avoid the fight with the bigger and more frightening Harvey, and taking boxing lessons from Ed.

The Honeymooners only ran for 39 episodes, but is considered by many to be one of the finest comedies on television. The combination of pathos and comedy on live television is something rarely seen, and perhaps never done so well.

Thoughts on Derek Jeter

Just how good is the Yankee shortstop? Well, first there are the numbers: a .317 lifetime batting average, 2,724 career hits that place him number 1 on the Yankees list and first among active players, a ten time all-star with a .429 all-star average. His post-season stats also impress: a .309 batting average, and a .469 slugging percentage.

Jeter waves to the crowd after passing Lou Gehrig on the Yankees hits list.

But the numbers, important as they are, do not tell the complete story. For those that wear pinstripes, the standard is higher. Because of the great tradition of the New York Yankees, the expectation of its fans, critics and the incessant glare of media create a different standard. In the three-ring circus atmosphere that encompasses the Yankees, the chance of failure is far greater than the chance of success. Some have risen to the occasion, like Reggie Jackson, whose three home runs in game six of the 1977 World Series against the Dodgers instantly became legend. Others exceeded expectations, like Roger Maris, merely a good outfielder with a strong bat while with the Kansas City Athletics, who became the new home run king with the Yankees in 1961. And some have gone far beyond: Bucky Dent comes to mind.

But more have failed than succeeded when donning the pinstripes. Imagine, for example,  a pitcher who wins 17 games two seasons in a row. Surely the ace of the staff on many a team, except the New York Yankees, where said pitcher, Randy Johnson a.k.a. the Big Unit, was a Big Bust. Of course, Johnson shone compared to Kevin Brown. The only thing Brown seemed capable of beating was the clubhouse wall.

Or consider that fellow on third base, a one-time shortstop once considered the game’s best player, in the era before Pujols. The best that could be said about A-Rod is that the jury is still out, in spite of impressive numbers, especially in 2005, Rodriguez still lacks that one achievement that will allow him to achieve Yankees greatness. Something is lacking in A-Rod, though a great post-season could redeem him in the ever-critical eyes of New Yorkers. But were his career to end now, he’s more likely to fall in line with Johnson and Brown than Jackson and Maris.

Which brings us back to Derek Jeter. Surely his numbers are Cooperstown worthy. But what make him the player that he is not merely his numbers. We all remember his shovel toss to Posada in the ’01 ALDS against Oakland, Derek throwing off balance after picking up a throw from right fielder Shane Spencer that sailed over two cut-offs, beating Jeremy Giambi by a hair at the plate. The play stunned the Athletics, and is one of the great plays in baseball history. Impressive as that was, his diving into the stands to catch a foul ball pop up in an early season game against the Red Sox tells us more about him. It tells us that in Jeter’s eyes that there are no small games, and that everything counts. You run out every ground ball, reach for everything hit near you, make every at bat and every pitch count. In short, you do your job as a professional, and do it the best or your ability, every time. You carry yourself with dignity, respect others, and don’t make a fool of yourself.

In the world of baseball, where men are sometimes paid enormous sums of money to play a game that many would gladly play for free, these are rare qualities. But they are essential baseball lessons for those that aspire to greatness, as well as great life lessons, all courtesy of the Yankee Captain, Derek Jeter.

The Arrogance and Conceit: Barack Obama and 9/11

The arrogance and conceit of the man in the White House knows no bounds, and rears its ugly head, on the anniversary of 9/11.  On the anniversary of the day when America woke up to the worst attack on its soil, Obama proclaimed a day of “National Service and Remembrance”. A fitting tribute to the firemen who rushed into the burning towers in New York, facing certain death, is, in the eyes of Obama, to perform community service. Remember Todd Beamer and the heroes of Flight 93, like Obama and his wife did, by painting a living room wall. The 183 murdered at the Pentagon are best remembered by vaccinating school children.

The message Obama delivered to America, to the families of police and firemen who gave their lives, to the innocent men women and children who burned to death, to the airline crews and passengers slaughtered by Muslim fanatics, was that if we could just collect enough petitions, or paint enough walls, everything would be fine.

To equate painting park benches or picking up litter with the horror of 9/11 not only demeans the moment, but coats the lives of those who died with a sugar coated banality. Franklin Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, Presidents Obama allegedly admires, did not liken the death of Americans in war with painting fences. But in Obama’s small world, everything is compared to one thing only: his experience. There is no greatness to a life, no moments of joy to be remembered fondly, no prayers to offer up or songs to sing in love and memory. All memories are alike, all come to down to a common denominator: the experience of a self-aggrandizing empty suit, Barack Hussein Obama. And his experience is limited to painting walls, hanging curtains, and other “community organizing” events. There is no greatness in his life, so there can be none in others.

So the next time your neighbor is murdered by Muslim fanatics,  pick up some litter in a schoolyard, sign a petition, or paint something. You’ll feel better. After all, Obama does.

The Wonders of iTouch

In my ears are white ear buds, whose thin cables run down my chest and into the right side pocket of my cargo shorts, plugging into my iTouch, iPod’s big brother. I’m listening to Elvin Bishop’s Let It Flow on an application called Pandora Radio. Before that, it was Leslie West, Mel Brown and Tommy Castro. Earlier this afternoon, it was talk radio, a game of chess, a scan of my email, a website or two, and a glance at the schedule for the Yankees (playing the Blue Jays in Toronto, and on a seven game win streak). In the three weeks since I’ve had my iTouch, there has hardly been a moment when I have been without it. I’m in danger of becoming a geek, or worse yet, like my 16 year old son who has a cell phone embedded in his right hand, sending out streams of text messages that surely tax the band width of his cell phone company. If the iTouch didn’t need to be charged as often as it does, — or if I didn’t run the battery down continuously — it might well be with me every waking hour. I’m not sure about sleeping, but the joy of listening to Philip Marlowe radio episodes has quietly made its way into our non-television equipped bedroom, helping to lull me to sleep.
What is it about this little device that has me (and millions others) so enraptured? Well, for one thing, it’s remarkably easy to use. The operating system is lifted from the iPhone, with its innovative touch screen. Touch the application to launch it, drag pages left and right or up and down, spread two fingers to expand a page: it’s quick and intuitive. Flip it sideways, and view the page horizontally. The iTouch is pre-loaded with useful applications like Safari, YouTube, Google Maps, a calendar, photos, contacts, notes, and of course iTunes (where it all started for the iPod). Thousands more are available, and a remarkable number are free. My favorites include a ToDo list, Pandora, iHeart Radio, Dictionary.com, MLB.com Lite, and Epicurious.
The dozens of applications that I’ve loaded on my iTouch make it very handy. It’s easier and quicker for me to scan my email from it, and either send a quick response or delete the message, than to log onto my computer and use Gmail. By flicking the page up and down, I can see what needs to be attended to, and what can be handled later. When I’ve got an idea for a story or a blog, the Notes function lets me capture it, anytime and anywhere. If there’s a downside, it’s the lack of universal WiFi, limiting the use of any function that relies on the internet.
Also on the plus side: like nearly everything Apple does, it’s a beautifully designed and well-made device. It’s not without its flaws, though. The display of album cover art is sometimes quirky, and I’ve lost all my music once, which is not a good experience. But even with those minor issues, the iTouch is one heck of a great product, significant enough to change your life the way your first computer did.