Willie Immunity?

Being a manager/coach for a pro sports franchise here in NYC is a very tough job. You are under the microscope with it turned up 100x more then anywhere else and the media have no problem throwing you under the bus. It is a hostile atmosphere, especially if your losing. But, when you win as a manager/coach, there is no other place to be. You win here in NYC, you are a superstar. So understanding that when your good, your untouchable, it goes the other way when your bad in NYC. Coaches and managers here in NYC have seen the pink slip plenty of times. Mets, Knicks, Jets, Giants, Rangers, Islanders and even the Bills in Buffalo have all had their losing streaks and seasons and have seen their head coaches fired because of it. So you would think that when a pro baseball team (the Mets) give away their division lead of 7 games at the end of season (2007) and then proceed to lose so much they don't even make the playoffs, the manager would lose his job right? NOPE!!! Willie Randolph not only kept his job but amazingly was exempt from blame. Unbelievable. The Mets secured the biggest collapse in baseball history last year and no heads rolled. No one last their job, no one got traded, nothing like that. Not only did everyone stay put, the GM, Omar Minaya, gave contract extensions to some of the oldest players, who are eligible for the blame for the collapse. How is Willie Randolph still the manager of the NY Mets??? I am completely dumbfounded. He showed last year that he is clueless when it comes to managing pitchers and situations for pitchers during games. He also shows that he can not and will not take any responsible for anything when he is interviewed by the media. He never shows emotion after a loss, he never gives answers as to why he makes certain decisions. How has he held up here in NYC for so long? Does he know the secret age of Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez and is keeping it to himself? Does he know who really shot JFK? I mean come on, he now has continued to be a bobble head in the dugout this season, making decisions that have cost us games. As recent as last night (April 24th), against the Washington Nationals, Willie showed he is dumb when he's faced with game decisions. Oliver Perez, the starting Mets pitcher, had given some runs and allowed the Nationals to tie the game at 3-3. Perez had allowed a couple of baserunners, but it was early and he could have tried to fight his way out of the jam. The next batter was ex-Met Lastings Milledge, who is a righthanded batter. Big deal right? So what if he is a right handed batter. If your the manager and you know your bullpen has been horrible so far this year, you have try to get what you can out of you starter. But, alas, slick Willie makes a pitching decision and removes Perez for.....hold your breath...Aaron Heilman. Heilman could be the worst reliever in the majors. I think he has the talent to be good, but I think he wants to be a starting pitcher and the organization won't hear of it, so Heilman is in his own head making himself crazy. Of course you must know how this whole situation ended up. Heilman walked Milledge to load the bases and then gave up a Grand Slam, to give the lowly Nationals a 7-4 lead and eventually the win. Thanks Willie and Aaron. You guys are like George Bush and Dick Chaney, continually screwing the little guys. I am very upset as you can tell, and the only thing that can cure this is to get Bobby Valentine out of Japan and back as the manager of the NY Mets. Thats it, bring back Bobby V. Thanks folks.

Willie Randolph

So for people who don't know, I am a huge NY Mets fan, I love them. I love sports in general and I have my other teams, the NY Knicks and the NY Jets, but the Mets have a big hold on me and I live and die with them. My father is big fan as well and we usually agree on most aspects and topics of the Amazin's season. Here is the thing, the Mets hired Willie Randolph 4 years ago, with no prior head coaching experience (his only managerial experience was a bench coach/1st base/3rd base and assistant with the Yankees). The great thing for Willie, is that the Mets also hired Omar Minaya as their General Manager at the same time and Omar gave Willie the tools to win the World Series. Omar went out and did what every NY GM should be doing with his owners money, spending it for the top talent he can get for the most money he can spend. Omar lured Pedro Martinez away from Boston, Carlos Beltran was ready for a big pay day and Omar gave it to him. He then brought in Billy Wagner for the cheap price of $43 million....Carlos Delgado came over as well and those guys joined the Mets talented young twosome of Jose Reyes and David Wright to create a real contender of a team in Flushing, NY. In 2006, the Mets came as close as one strike to going to the World Series. They won the National League Eastern Division and made it the championship series against St.Louis and Carlos Beltran struck out with the bases loaded in the final game. The Mets, although they didn't win it all, were back on top and winning, which was something they hadn't done for a while. But fans and media people began to question Willie's decision making when it came to managing the pitchers during the game, removing and inserting relievers when need be. He has been getting worse in my eyes, he has made so many bad decisions that they have directly cost the team wins. This season, 2008, things have not changed. Willie again is struggling to pull the trigger when a pitcher is getting roasted on the mound and he again is picking the wrong reliever to come out of the bullpen during crucial times in the game. He also has a really, really bad habit of acting completely delusional when he speaks to the media about the concerns for the team. For instance, during the "memorable and forgettable collapse" of last year (2007) Willie was constantly quoted as saying things like, "I think we are going to be fine" and "There isn't anything to worry about yet"....when in reality, the team had lost complete control of first place at the time and they were laughing and acting oblivious to what was going on. The Mets went from first to out of the post season picture in two weeks and their free fall was never taken responsibility for by anyone, especially our wonderful manager. This year, throughout Spring Training, some of the highly paid, older, players began to get injured and fans were fearing the worst. That Omar Minaya had lost his edge with managing the talent and their contracts and he made vital mistakes handing out bloated, long term contracts to guys who were looking like short term options. So when the media, searching for any answer from Willie, asked him about the injuries, his answer was "It's a long Spring"...... Thanks a lot Willie. Look, NYC is the toughest place to win or lose if you are a sports franchise, the Mets will always be second place to the Yankees until they show they can dominate like the Bronx Bombers did. But Willie has played and managed now for both NY teams and you would think he would be accustomed to the way things go on here, but, unfortunately for us, the fans, he hasn't. My hope for the future of the NY Mets is that they get a guys who has some passion, some energy, some valor, some maturity when it comes to taking responsibility and some more baseball management skills so that we can finally bring the ring to Flushing.

Dave Chappelle

So last night (Saturday) my girlfriend and I went out for dinner at Gonzalez Y Gonzalez and enjoyed their great Margaritas and Guacamole. We ate and drank for about 3 hours and left when they began to blast the Dance music, preparing for another Saturday night of Bridge and Tunnel bar hoppers. So we left and decided to wander into the West Village, hoping to stop by our favorite wine bar, Shade, on West 3rd street and Sullivan street. Alas, Shade was filled to the brim with patrons and we were forced to march on. When we go out, we aren't into being at the bars and clubs where you bump into a million people trying buy drinks at the same time. In NYC you can, contrary to what people think, find a place to go out drink on a traditional night (Friday, Saturday) and not have to deal with crowds. So we moved on and suddenly passed by the Comedy Cellar on McDougal street where we went for my birthday and thought it would be a great idea to see some comedy. We needed a laugh. The next show at 11pm was sold out there, we then decided to go home. We were tired of walking around and the margaritas were settling nicely in our stomachs, so home seemed logical. As we were standing on the corner, looking for a cab, a guy standing there is yelling "Comedy, who likes comedy?". We do, I was thinking, so I told Christina lets see what hes talking about. He tells us about a comedy club up the street, Comedy Village. We go, get our tickets and wait for the 10:30 pm show. The lineup of comics were mostly unknowns, but we love comedy and were in for the long haul. The first comic that came out was beyond horrible and unfunny. His name is Dante Nero. He was so bad, he had no jokes, he was so racist that it was uncomfortable to be there. He just looked around the audience and made racist comments about what he thought people's nationalities were. I have been to a lot of comedy shows and I understand that race and gender are good tools for jokes, but you should have other material to use instead of just insulting the audience. There are people who are ignorant and enjoy that type of comedy, there were some of those people there last night. Anyway, he finally got the red light and left the stage. Next up was a comic who was so funny, he was creative and literally made us laugh through out his entire set. His name was Jason Good. Jason really had some great material. He obviously has things to talk about that are funny, other then race. We really enjoyed watching Jason, he is great comic. We were on the verge of leaving the club during the first comic, Dante's, set but Jason kept us there and set us up for whoever the next comic would be. Earlier, when we were outside the club, there were about 7 comics on the list for the evening. So we hoped the next 4 or 5 were as funny as Jason Good. Our MC for the night came out after Jason was finished and introduced the next comic. "Ladies and Gentleman, please give a warm welcome to our next comic....Dave Chappelle!!" . We looked at each other and didn't believe what we had heard. Out walked Dave with big headphones on, smoking a cigarette and a huge smile on his face. Christina and I are big Chappelle fans, from his old stand-up specials all the way to his amazing sketch comedy show on Comedy Central. The Dave Chappelle Show was one the funniest shows on TV. And Dave did not disappoint last night. He was on with all his jokes and we laughed for two hours straight. He interacted with all of us, Christina was busting his chops, I was talking to him about Plinko from The Price Is Right. He was great and the best part about it was that we had no idea he was coming out and we only paid $15 for it. That's whats great about NYC and Comedy clubs. You never who you'll see on any given night because NYC's stage is the place to be if you are a comic and the audiences here are the toughest. Thanks Dave Chappelle, you knocked them dead last night and turned our night into a memorable one.

Help the Pitbulls

My girlfriend and I adopted two Pitbull puppies, one three years ago and then another two years ago. Both of them were rescued from the Harlem, NYC Animal Control Center. Our first "baby", as my girlfriend would call them, is Argos. He is a 3 1/2 year old Pitbull with the nicest personality and he really is a big mush. He weighs 75 pounds, but its all mush and he is so good that we couldn't have been happier with him. Our second "baby" is a bit more of a handful then Argos. Her name is Xabina and she is this little, 45 pound, black, runt of the litter, mutt. She looks like a Pitbull, mixed with a black Labrador, mixed with the Devil. I say the Devil, because she is the naughtiest puppy alive and what makes it worse is that she is the cutest one ever. Her picture is my profile picture, so you can see what I mean. The reason I am talking about our dogs is because there is an abundant amount of stray dogs in America that need homes. These abandoned and stray dogs are just looking for love and care from people that will give it to them unconditionally. These dogs are so grateful for the attention and for the chance to live normally. They need our help to be rescued from the situations that other horrible humans have put them in. Some are malnurished, some are abused physically, some are left for dead after being made to fight other dogs and some are just presents that were discarded after they were unwanted. If you want to help and give an animal a chance, please visit your local animal shelter or ASPCA, and adopt a pet. Thanks.

West Virginia Coal Mines

There is an ongoing problem in West Virginia that my girlfriend, an International Political Science Major, made me aware of that I am making everyone else aware of. In the Appalachian mountains of West Virgina coal mining companies are exploding the mountains in search of coal, claiming it is for the "environment" and for "alternative energy", but what is really happening is that the inhabitants of the nearby towns at the bottom of the mountains are getting sick. The coal and mountain dust which contains Arsenic and Sulfur is blowing through windows and is engulfing the air these people breath. Whats worse, is that the water in the ponds, lakes and reservoirs, which is for drinking and swimming, etc., is being contaminated by the sames poisons causing deaths and sickness. There are other horrible things happening due to these explosions, one which I will mention, a three year old boy was sleeping in his bed in his home down by the mountain side, when one of the debris boulders from the coal mining explosions flew threw the window and crushed him to death. I urge everyone to learn more about this issue and educate yourself on how to help support these people. Thanks.

Our Country

I just finished watching the Documentary by Michael Moore, "Sicko", and I am appalled yet not surprised by the content of the film. I knew that our (America's) health care system was far below the standards of any other countries, but I wasn't aware of how bad it was. I wasn't really that surprised to know that England and France had National Health Care Systems, I was surprised to know that Cuba, had readily available health care, pharmaceuticals and medical services for their citizens just like the other European countries. I am ashamed at us (Americans) that our Government won't give us the opportunity to all have the same health care no matter what our social class level. In the Documentary, there were plenty of Americans living in France enjoying the free health care for themselves and especially their children. If you haven't seen this film, you should, even if you are a staunch Republican or Right Wing activist, it will make you think about humanity as whole, not as a bi-partisan society.