This has been one heck of a week. One of my cars smelled like a skunk that took aim at its undercarriage in an act of anger or it fell in love with the SUV’s color of black. The skunk also decided that it was worth ripping up my back lawn for whatever it was looking for. That left deep divots, without the smell.
All my flowers have been eaten by the neighborhood animals. Virtually no flowers this year, just chewed on plants. I planted my tomatoes surrounded by the usual corral made form an old dog pen. Chicken wire over that is inevitable.
I have not had enough water pressure to fully water my grass with my in ground sprinklers. One plumber came out and said there would be well over $1000 in repairs.
I had to coordinate with the water company to come and turn off the water from the outside of the house. That was some adventure, as the serviceman spent 30 minutes locating the buried switch and it took a lot of effort to turn it. The switch is off now and the plumber—a different one from the same company—will come to replace a very old, original inside valve and pipe for a lot cheaper price than the first guy quoted.
We booked a trip to Italy for late summer. The plan was to use credit card points to cover a portion of the flight fares. However, the travel coordinator could only offer basic economy on United, which was a non-starter for the very long flight. Those points will go towards domestic air travel.
The knob on our just over 4 month old GE range got stuck in low and when I tried to turn the burner off, it remained on high. After calls to the dealer (closed) and GE (wouldn’t recognize our serial numbers as a GE product), we were left with no alternative to enlist the Springfield Fire Department for help. Two firemen from the ladder truck came and turned off the gas to the range and unplugged it from the electrical outlet. GE came Saturday and has ordered a new switch. We are unable to use the burner until repaired on May 29. The microwave/convection oven, the toaster oven and the gas grill will have to be our cooking sources.
In the sports world, Adam Gase showed he is in control of the New York Jets, as owner Christopher Johnson summarily fired GM Mike Maccagnan about two weeks after the NFL Draft. Head Coach Gase did not want free agent RB Le’veon Bell at all, and felt that his GM overpaid too. This was the last straw in the rift between them, and leaves the New York Jets adrift and poorly managed.
Gase must think he is Bill Belichick or Bill Parcells. He was a control freak in Miami according to former Jets’ front office man Mike Tannenbaum, who was let go when Gase didn’t get along with him.
This does not bode well for New York. There is a ray of hope for Jets fans with the personnel on this team. But for me, I feel that very little will change under Gase’s guidance and the team will again not be a contender. I would love to be wrong on this, yet, after all, it is the New York Jets, with a crazed coaching retread who is not a proven winner.
The Boston Bruins are four games away from ending their drought of winning the Stanley Cup. The B’s simply outclassed the Carolina Hurricanes and are the favorite to win the Cup, whether their opponent is St.Louis or San Jose.
San Jose was gifted a win in OT in Game 3 in St. Louis when an obvious hand pass wasn’t called, and that pass went onto a Sharks’ stick for a game-winning goal. The play was not reviewable and led to an outcry by Carolina coach Rod Brind‘Amour that the NHL, who, after the fact acknowledged the mistake, should expand replay. It works in baseball and it works in football, although after what happened to the New Orleans Saints in the 2018 playoffs, they too need to revamp their current system. St. Louis went up 3-2 on the Sharks with a 5-0 win on Sunday.
Golden State moved on to Portland for two games in the Western Conference finals. The “Core Four”—“The Hampton Five” minus Kevin Durant, is more than holding their own. Portland seems drained after their rugged seven game battle with the Denver Nuggets. Returning to Moda Center where the friendly environment, fueled by fans who want to dethrone the champions, should greatly improve their chances. Thus far Steph Curry has played like the two-time M.V.P. he has been, and Draymond Green and Klay Thompson have excelled. Andre Iguodala made a key defensive stop on Damian Lilliard at the end of Game 2. The Blazers have shown sparks of life and their Curry, Seth, gave his brother fits at times and hit some important shots.
I thought it would totally surprise me if the Warriors swept their way into the NBA Finals. While they know how to win and have championship pedigree, Portland entered this matchup far from being a decided underdog. However, on Saturday night, Golden State overcame another large deficit to win convincingly. Green was a “wrecking ball,” according to Coach Steve Kerr. Curry managed to score 36 points again—on what looked like a sub par night. The Warriors have an astonishing NBA record—a road win in 22 consecutive playoff series. And they once more shut down Lillard, who admitted he was playing with separated ribs, and sent the Blazers to an incredible playoff record of 1-11 versus the Warriors. One thing is for sure—Dell and Sonya Curry will be going to the NBA Finals to root for one son, and it is looking like it will be Steph.
Milwaukee is acting like the best team in the NBA. It may be, but until they beat the Western Conference champs, they are just another contender. Toronto is game, and they might pick off a game at home. For the first two contests, it looked like the Raptors had ended the season with the dramatic win at home against Philadelphia. This is Milwaukee’s series to win.
Don’t look now, but the injury-riddled New York Yankees have momentarily made it into first place in the AL East. Recently, the Yankees have had the best record in MLB. They won a doubleheader from the Orioles on Wednesday, making up for a rain-sodden week in the New York metropolitan area. New York took 2 out of 3 from Tampa Bay, decimating the AL-leading Rays pitching staff for 13 runs on Sunday with a 7 run outburst in the 6th inning.
In their rear view mirror are the hard-charging Boston Red Sox. Despite losing David Price to injury, the resurgent Red Sox have become a force in the AL East as expected. Chris Sale struck out 17 Colorado batters in 7 innings last week. Did anybody really think that they wouldn’t be in it to win the AL East? This weekend they had a tough time with perhaps the best team in baseball, the Houston Astros, who won the first two games at Fenway Park before the Red Sox prevailed by a 4-3 score.
The Preakness was run on Saturday. Outside of a large crowd at Pimlico and a TV audience that knew this meant very little, no one cared much about the outcome. I know I didn’t watch. ESPN had an interesting feature on the future of the Pimlico Race Track in a largely black section of Baltimore and how the Canadian owners are seeking to move the race to Laurel Park, which has set up a major political battle in the city and in the Maryland Legislature..
New Orleans has the right to select Zion Williamson with the first pick in the NBA Draft. The Knicks are picking third—another unfortunate consolation prize. I wonder how this changes the free agent landscape? Or the mindset of the disgruntled Anthony Davis?
Ian Kinsler was provocative this week. The San Diego infielder and a champion with Boston last year as well as a 4 time MLB All-Star, has been mired in a bad slump to start the year, pushing his average below .200.
On Wednesday night he slugged a homer deep into the stands at Petco Park. At least three times he ranted and spewed obscenities—he said to psych up his teammates, but everyone knew they were directed at the fans who were giving Kinsler the business about his bad season thus far. This was bush, no matter what feeble justification Kinsler offered. Act like a pro, not a disgraceful has been.
That admonishment should go to C.C. Sabathia, too. C.C. has had his run ins with Tampa Bay, last season getting tossed after drilling a Rays player for throwing behind a Yankee batter. C.C. was hot again in Tampa last weekend, voicing his disapproval when two New York batters were hit by Yonny Chirinos pitches. To exact revenge this time, C.C. tried to hit Tampa Bay DH Austin Meadows on Friday night. Lip readers clearly saw C.C. say “Yeah, I definitely was trying to hit his a—.”
Grow up C.C. Pitch to win some games. You are only 2-1 and haven’t even reached the 250 career mark and it is nearly Memorial Day. Focus—even when it is the Rays. Your team needs you to pitch, not take unilateral action for wrongs you have perceived.
Mike Trout, playing in the relative anonymity of Orange County, California and not seen very much on national television, hit his 250th home run. Halfway to immortality. Halfway to the Hall of Fame.
Deontay Wilder is the WBC heavyweight champion. He had a fight this weekend with a long time rival, Dominic Breazeale. Boxers like to stir things up to draw fans, and I am sure that Wilder was hyping his match for Showtime. But to call boxing a “gladiator sport” and say that he “wants” to kill a man in the ring is over the top. Death is always a possibility in boxing. I recall watching Bennie Parent dying at the hands of Emile Griffith. Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini beat his opponent so badly that he died.
When we were younger, someone would ask if you would go into the ring with Sonny Liston or Muhammad Ali for a million dollars? (nope) Mike Tyson, who was fearsome in his prime, would always call his KO punches “murderous.” Boxing is a serious matter. It does not require video game theatrics to draw attention to its violence. Tone it down, Deontay. KO Breazeale—which he did in the first round with a brutal right hand that found his opponent’s chin. Don’t try to kill anyone—if you do, the DA will be looking into your case and boxing will fall further behind UFC and MMA, until somebody dies inside the octagon.
After three rounds, the PGA Championship at the supposedly difficult course of Bethpage Black was turning into a romp for Brooks Koepka. Paired with Tiger Woods for the opening round, Koepka smashed the course record while the 43 year old Woods set his route for not making the cut. Too much of the focus was on Woods and his over par rounds. Only when Koepka was blowing away the field by 7 shots on Saturday did he receive the proper accolades.
For his sake, I hoped he stayed in front and collected the trophy. Koepka is a fine golfer and he won the US Open on Long Island at Shinnecock. Otherwise, this would have been a tournament for the ages if he lost. Having said this, Kopek came back to the field and won by a mere 2 strokes.
As for Tiger, he was happy to say that, for those whose memory was a bit foggy that he did just fine for a man of his age in April in Augusta. Amen.
Two scandalous items appeared in print and on the airwaves. Evidently, a doctor at Ohio State had been doing inappropriate things to those OSU athletes he screened in the 1970’s and ’80’s. While he is long gone, the stigma of what happened remains with those young men, who probably knew no better.
I recall that in Highland Park we had to be medically certified to play in the Midget League. I remember having to take my pants down and be examined, including the obligatory squeeze of the testicles.My mother was not in the room. One doctor performed the testing. As I grew older, the rule was amended to let the family pediatrician handle the testing. It hadn’t really dawned on me until this scandal at Ohio State broke that I may or may not have been the subject of abuse.
Then there was the report of sexual abuse by a Penn State assistant coach on a woman on a plane in 2017. Penn State, if anywhere, had a zero tolerance for this kind of action. Instead, when the woman attempted to report the incident, she was told that “no would believe her.” The coach who was to report the incident failed to do so. There simply is no place for intolerance.
And I was appalled with the Michigan judge who acted as a celebrity when interviewed by Cynthia McFadden of NBC News about how she handled the Larry Nasser sentencing. All made up and dressed to the nines, she made the story into more about her than the women who suffered indignities at the hands of Nasser. Her mea culpa that she would rather be taken off the bench than change how she handled the matter was grandstanding at its worst in a state where judges are elected. This woman should have declined to be interviewed. What about the integrity of the judiciary, Brett Kavanaugh and the Senate Republicans notwithstanding?
Finally, I do not usually bring politics into my blog. However, it is affecting me in how I travel.
This week we head to Tampa to see the Dodgers and Rays play. We are driving form St. Petersburg to New Orleans for our daughter’s birthday. Previously, we decided to stop in Pensacola so I could see the home of the Blue Angels Navy air acrobatic team. On Friday we will head westward to “The Big Easy.”
We have about 120 miles on I-10 that takes us through Alabama. With what the Alabama legislature has done this week regarding abortion, I do not intend to do anything in Alabama other than drive to Mississippi and to appropriately use the Alabama rest areas. Mississippi has their own draconian laws on abortion; I am simply madder at Alabama for the travesty they have wrought.
This is my choice. I like the right to choose what I can do with myself. This is nothing compared to what a woman should have the right to do with her body, let alone when it is invaded by way of rape or incest.
I am certain that there are many decent and knowledgeable people in Alabama who would do the right thing in this instance. Apparently it doesn’t matter in a state that gave us Roy Moore and may thrust him upon us again. The backwards thinking legislators who pleasured us with this legislation are what I envision Alabama to be.
I hope that I do not have to re-enter Alabama until saner people come to their senses. I rooted for Nick Saban and his Alabama Crimson Tide. Not any more—the same zealots who work in the Legislature fund the University of Alabama and its teams. Same applies to Auburn and I like the roguish Bruce Pearl. I just cannot stomach this mentality.
I have two more big trips left in my quest to see all 30 MLB parks. I am thinking about a driving trip from NJ to Chicago and Milwaukee as well as visiting Purdue and the University of Illinois. This path leaves me no alternative but to drive through Ohio, stopping in Columbus and near Cleveland. It leaves me cold that I have to do this in a state which has joined the lunacy over abortion rights.
Next year I need to visit Kansas City and St. Louis. Missouri is the state where a legislator said most rapes are not from “strangers jumping out of the bushes’ but were “date rapes or consensual rapes.” Really?
I feel almost hypocritical in knowing that I will spend time and money in these states whose leaders I abhor. I feel that I have an unhappy choice to give up an abiding passion to see all the parks as I am but 5 stadiums away from conclusion. I feel empathy towards the women who must make starker and more defining choices because of the mania to overthrow Roe v. Wade.
I wish things weren’t the way life has become for so many who feel disenfranchised. The epidemic which has overrun our country threatens its core values.
I see it in microcosm in sports. I see it in life. I am pro-life. The kind of life we all can enjoy and which our Founding Fathers had envisioned, not some demagoguery in the ruse of political gain cloaked in morality.
What Is wrong with our lives, our country, our leaders? I haven’t the answer for that. I hope we get things under control soon. So I can pursue my passion without question—just as a woman has the undeniable right to choose to take care of herself instead of others forcing her to do what she does not wish to do.
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