Heroes and Villians

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Jeremy, Alex and Tim.

In the last year these 3 big names have fallen on hard times and as of yesterday 2 are gone and one is MIA.

Jeremy, the Harvard grad was insane on the BB court, well at least for 14 games!
Alex was the darling of the 2009 Yankee Season MVP, hero of the World Series and now he is no where in sight. He did make an appearance on opening day, well at least in the dugout. He didn't want to face his "adoring" home town fans so he stayed sequestered on the bench spitting pumpkin seeds in mid-season form.
The anti-Alex, Derek Jeter has resurfaced on the bench, on the field and cheering his team on even if he  looks ridiculous in full uniform and ski boot protective shoe. Will Alex ever play the field again, Yankee Stadium that is.

As for Tim T, he came with hoopla and fanfare although the fans were seldom fair to our college QB hero. Reports are he has very few skills and will never be a productive QB in the NFL. But knowing all that the Jets still signed him, brought him here for a year and did little if anything to increase the value of his stock.

Now two are gone and the third is destined to a miserable future in pinstripes unless of course he is able to hit some homers, win some games and then all will be forgiven, well at least forgotten.

Old dog- New tricks

For approximately one school year I have been taking Italian classes in NYC. Most recently I doubled the fun by enrolling in a class at NCC the local community college. By doubling the class time i hoped to increase my understanding and familiarity with the language of my father and mother. Despite investing lots of time and energy in making flash cards, doing homework and the readings I am not satisfied with my progress. Everyone says that I need to immerse myself in the language and culture and so we will be going to Italy this summer. I am pinning a lot on the 1 week we will be in the old country.

Every once and a while I think that perhaps I am losing my capacity to retain information, but I always dismiss this theory and say it is like learning a foreign language... hey it is a foreign languge!

Ciao

Captain of the Ship

The Captain of the Yankee ship for the last 8+ years has been Derek Jeter. He is by all accounts a trooper, great role model for the team and his work ethic is beyond reproach. By baseball standards he is old approaching 39 or is it 40? Last fall he fell and broke his ankle. In true DJ spirit he worked hard with every intention of being at shortstop when the Yankees began the 2013 season. Injuries at his age heal slowly and so when the bell rang, Jeter was unable to lace 'em up and captain his team. His rehab took a turn for the worse when he chipped a bone in the same broken ankle foot and now his return has been delayed until who knows when.

Yesterday The Captain faced the media in a much anticipated news conference. What would he say? Perhaps this was it? Would he return for this year? I'd imagine 50 or more reporters covered this event. Jeter approaches the mike, and says "I'll be back when I am healed". For the next 35 minutes reporters tried to get him to say the same thing in as many ways as possible. Story over in 10 seconds.

Last night DJ, The Captain was in the dugout in full uniform. Ids this a rule that only people in uniform can be in the dugout. There was no chance he would play, he is on the no play list, yet there he was from hat to foot and one walking cast. What a trooper.

The un doing of Un

What ever happened to Kim Jong Un? Two weeks ago he was the major threat to the world. He was scarring us with his nuclear bomb lingo and on the verge of bombing Japan, Guam, South Korea and where ever else his missiles would reach. Navy ships sped to the far east, everyone was on alert, KJU kept peering into his binoculars, looking at maps, watching his goose step soldiers parade by. His followers wept and waded in the sea whenever he would sail away. His fans rivaled Justin Beiber's.
The nightly news reports kept the drumbeat going as the anniversary of his granddads birth came ever so close.We were walking on eggs, waiting for the bold letters to interrupt The Voice-
BULLETIN, BULLETIN, "we now switch to world headquarters in New York and Brian Williams."

And then the bombs exploded, but on the mainland, in Boston, on Patriot's Day.
All of a sudden Un and done.

We have experienced lots of cry wolf moments since 2000, Y2K, Mayan End of the World, various snow storms that fizzled, and now no Fun Un. The new normal is when we least expect it........

The Least They Can Do!

Back form a weekend in DC where it was cold but beautiful.
Late last week I was listening to sports radio, where first time, long times, call to express their views on all things sports. Callers were in a somber mood as they spoke about the bombing in Boston.

One guy and they are almost always guys, called in to say that  he and his buddies were leaving for Vegas for his bachelor party weekend. Before leaving he wanted to thank all the service men for their sacrifices that allow him to go to Vegas to gamble, drink and get babes (his words). The sad thing was that he was dead serious and obviously so out of touch. Should we honor his sacrifice?

Another Vinny from Queens (lots of Vinnies call) called in to say that he was a history buff and when he heard the Star Bangled Banner playing at the ball park and saw the flag it "took me back to the Revolutionary times."

Can't make this stuff up

School of Rock

Last week there was a report in the paper that the country of Norway postponed spring exams until the Justin Bieber tour blew through the great north. What a great idea. A country that historically and consistently outperforms the US realized that their students have Bieber on the brain and not math so as we say in the USA, if you can't beat them....

I Told You So

I recently wrote to you about the phenomenon of watching TV where ever and whenever. No need to get the family together to watch a weekly episode of, I don't know what do families get together to watch any more? With all the variety shows gone and Perry Mason a relic, and my family all grown up and onto lives of their own, the ritual of family TV is as old as well, family TV!

Today there is a story in the papers of a new technology that would eliminate the need for free TV. Aereo would allow viewers to watch free TV channels on their devices from i-this to i-that. Sounds great and would be a threat to network TV and all those soap suds ads. It would also be a problem for cable TV. Once very affordable cable costs are outrageous and I am on the verge of trying to piece together my own TV viewing menu. Using Hulu, Netflix, Apple TV and the basic cable package I'm sure I could trim a whopping $4-5 a month off my bill. Quite a savings for the likes of CSI, Law and Order SUV, NCIS, and YES. This would work until the next big thing comes along.

I need to read more.

POP-itics

Sorry I haven't written but I have been feeling sick and have had a terrible cough.
Trying to get back on into the blogisphere, here is an offering for today.


The latest turn in politics is to have POP people visit foreign countries that we have tried to convert for 50+ years.

Cases in point -
 Denis Rodman travels to North Korea to visit with Little Kim. All seemed harmless until Kim started to really rattle his sword. What's next and and a result of Rodman's visit, perhaps we'll see Kim Jong-un in a wedding gown.

JayZ and Beyonce in Cuba. I'm sure he was just scouting ballplayers for his new job as baseball player agent.

Here are two hostile countries that have been a thorn in our side for our 5 decades, maybe these pop people can do some good, NAH!

Why not send Justin packing to Pakistan? No can do, he's Canadian.

The Easter Bronxie

This week, New York Magazine asked famous NewYawkers to remember growing up n the city. It got me to thinking and reminiscing about, "the good old days".

The day before Easter J and I were on Arthur Avenue. We parked in an unusual spot close to Adams Place. As we got out of the car I got a flash of my childhood,  Easter in the Bronx of the 50's. Given my dad's occupation he spent March 1-April 15 behind a desk in a Washington Avenue store front preparing tax returns for his clients and anyone else who happened to walk into the store. Lucky for me the store was down the street from Excelsior Pizza Restaurant (owned by uncle Dom and aunt Nana) and next store to a corner candy store that sold egg creams and other 50's sweets. Given his very tight schedule we'd have Easter dinner at his mom's house on Adams Place or at Uncle Phil's who lived a few short blocks away and very close to the Bronx Zoo. I think it was Mapes Ave. I'd always get a new suit for Easter, usually some shade of gray, a sharkskin number comes to mind. With it a pink shirt, new shoes and an appropriate, clip on tie; always a dandy. When I got to high school I tied my first tie.

If Easter was as early as this year, in the heat of tax season, the day was condensed and a bit rushed but with all my cousins squeezed into a small 5 room apartment, playing Bankers and Brokers with uncle Charlie, the day was always festive and rewarding. Chocolate bunnies, money, Peeps. If the holiday fell after April 15 we had more time and perhaps a walk in the Bronx Botanical Gardens, nothing like it is today....as a matter of fact my dog Wrinkles, drank polluted water there and soon after died!

The NY Mag article has got me thinking and looking at good old days, through rose colored glasses.

Formally Known as da Bombers

Today is April 1 and the first full day of baseball season. How fitting as the Yankees open with an April fools lineup. With injured and aging superstars, the Bombers are set to open with a cast of over the hill characters.  I can just see the headlines should they get off to a bad start
            April Fools, No Joke 
                or
        April's Fools; Get Use to It
                or
         Bombers Bomb

But then again they just might surprise and be those Pesky, Scrappy, Hungry, no names formally known as the Bronx Bombers- I can hear the chant,  Let's go, what's your name?

Ah the eternal optimism of the first day of the baseball season.