Skip to main content


Showing posts from January 1, 2006

Apparently, I Still Hold a Grudge

Those visitors to this specific page can check out the whole site at Although I had no rooting interest whatsoever in the national championship game, I must admit to being extremely impressed with the performance of Texas quarterbackVince Young, particularly on those magnificent last two drives. The only thing missing from that final sequence? A fake-spike, of course. Pete Carroll, I'm not generally bitter, but I still haven't forgiven you for the way your team lost five straight to close the 1994 NFL season. Yes, Texas won the game more than your team lost it, but the ending was very reminiscent to me of the way that many contests concluded during your tenure with Gang Green. When the game came down to one play on fourth down in the final seconds, I was in the middle of an instant message session with a friend, Jeff the bowling Miami attorney. We both agreed that the best call for the situation would be a quarterback draw or something of th

Racin' Jason

Shea Stadium has puzzled, bedeviled and flummoxed many a good hitter with its combination of dimensions and weather conditions. There's a frustration factor that comes from too many long fly balls turned into outs and the result is that the batting average plummets. In my 25-odd years of Mets watching, I've seen the ballpark dominate the player, rather than the other way around, a few too many times. There was one hitter though, who for what was otherwise a rather dismal campaign, had a complete mastery of everything Sheaness. In 2003 we were introduced to Jason Phillips, a rather candid Californian with molassesesque speed, a sharp quick bat, and a penchant for doing nimble splits to catch stray throws at first base. In the absence of Mo Vaughn, Phillips, who signed with the Blue Jays on Tuesday, became the team's most pleasant surprise. By July 13, the Mets were basically dead and buried, at 39-53 and in the NL East basement with one day remaining before the All-Star B

New Years Metsolutions

Since the calendar has turned itself over, it seems that a re-introduction is in order. As someone who is a big believer in the idea that actions speak louder than words, I've always preferred "solutions" to "resolutions" so I don't do the whole thing regarding promising to be a better person than I was the previous year. The Mets, on the other hand, always promise to be better than they were the previous season. They make resolutions in the form of "solutions", always bringing in new people, whether it be in the front office, in management, or on the field. The history of this dates all the way back to the beginnings of the franchise in 1962 when ownership decided to bring in as many familiar faces as possible, hoping to generate immediate interest. That's why the Mets had George Weiss and Casey Stengel running the ship, with a roster in the early days that included the likes of Don Zimmer, Gil Hodges, Duke Snider, Roger Craig, and Gene Wo