April 19, 2004

Hey

    Saturday night was another classic night with my lawyer pals from the Bronx. The gang took Kim out
for her birthday. I had to work till 12:30, but I was able to get downtown for the after dinner boozing.
    I took a cab down to Company on 10 Street.  I thought I saw Zaharah outside the bar, but I didn't
recognize anyone else so I went right in. I found Nisha, Adam, Dave and some guy named William there.
I said my hellos and then was told that Zaharah Kim and Melissa were out there. So I went out only to see
Melissa saying good bye.I was like "I just got here!"  But she was done, so off she went.
   We headed back inside. I liked Company, the beers were cold and reasonably priced, but they wanted
to bop on, so we headed out. At that point Zaharah called it a night.  We got to Avenue A and went to
one place that was too crowded (where we temporarily  lost Kim and Adam) Then we went to Niagra. We
went to the downstairs part and the music at first was great. Hard 80's. Then it went to the regular hip-
hop. There was something down there that I found kind of peculiar. There was a girl up an a little stage
pole dancing. She had a thong bottom, and a see through top on. It was like they had a bachelor party
there and someone forgot to tell the stripper to go home. I don't know, maybe I should have been
grateful, but it weirded me out. I tried to get into a position where I could hang with the crew, and still
have a clear path to the bar. But that was right in front of Ms. Striperella, and on my other side there was
a girl who was dancing like crazy and knocking in to me. I was getting clobbered! I must be getting too
old for this stuff
    By the end of the night  they ran out of Bud and Coors, but in spite of that, it was a pretty good time.
Nisha, Kim and Adam took off (Dave had split earlier) And I figured I'd do a lap or two. Nothing doing,
so I headed for the hills.

NEWS

    I think the best news I heard all week was that Osama Bin-Laden offered a truce to the European Union
if they pulled their troops out of Muslim countries, and they collectively told him to go f-ck himself. That,
and that 1 month after he took over as the head honcho for Hamas, Abdel Aziz Rantisi  was killed by an
Israeli missle.
    Other than that, the news was all bad. April has been the deadliest month in Iraq since the war began,
and the month is only 1/2 over. After hiding out at his ranch in Texas, President Bush had a press
conference last Tuesday night. His first sentence was "These have been hard times in Iraq." Well DUH!
    And yet he still thinks he's going to be able to turn over a government to the Iraqi's by June 30. He's
dreaming. But that's not the worst part. No, the worst part is that soliders who thought they were coming
home are now being made to stay, and troops that were already done are being sent back. That has got
to be a morale killer. I mean, think about how happy you are on Friday around 5 PM knowing that another
work week has come and gone. The thought of working on Saturday is enough to make you go insane.
Now consider these poor people who have been living in this awful country, having these animals shoot
at them for an entire year, especially since the President declared that major combat operations were
OVER. To be told that now they have to stay at least another 3 months is heartbreaking. This is where
having a President with a military backround might come in handy. I'm not sure, but I have a feeling John
Kerry (or for that matter John McCain) would have figured out a better way to handle this mess. Guys
who were actually shot at and not flying around Houston, must know that troop morale is key to winning
wars.

SPORTS

    It was another banner weekend for New York Sports. The Islanders and Devils were knocked out of
the playoffs, the Knicks got that asses whupped by the Nets, the Mets made the Pirates look like the
1927 Yankees, and the Red Sox took the first 2 games of the four game series up in Boston.
    Lets take these one by one. The Islanders losing gives me no particular pleasure, only that alot of the
writers and the media were sort of making it a foregone conclusion that the Islanders were going to take
out the Tampa Bay Lightning, despite the fact that the Lightning had the best record in the Eastern
Conference and the Isles squeaked in the last playoff spot. I couldn't believe that any prediction I heard
or read had the Isles upsetting Tampa. My question is, if so many people predict an upset, does it cease
to be an upset?
    The Devils sans Scott Stevens bowed out in 5 games to the Miami Dolphins of hockey, the
Philadelphia Flyers. Now THAT's an upset. The Flyers are very good at making the playoffs, but usually
find a way to exit stage left before the finals. Had Stevens been able to play, the Devils might have had
a prayer, but without him around to knock out the other teams superstar, the Devils had no chance. So
there will be no Stanley Cup Parade in the Meadowlands parking lot this year.
    And don't hold your breath for a NBA title parking lot party either, despite the Nets dominance over
the sorry Knicks on Saturday. The Knicks are just happy to be here and they played that way on
Saturday, allowing the Nets to walk all over them. I hope Cablevision enjoys those two big playoff
games, because that's probably all they are going to get.
    On Friday the Mets forgot to pitch, on Saturday they forgot to hit, and on Sunday they just called in
dead. It's a shame, because this Mets team, even without Cliff Floyd and Jose Reyes, is already much
more fun to watch than at any time last year. They actually catch the ball when it's hit to them and they
even steal a base every once in a while. Sadly, while their starting pitching has been good, their relief
pitching has been dreadful. Somebody please take Mike Stanton out back and shoot him, he's a waste
of life. Meanwhile Armando Benetiz has 6 saves already for the Marlins. Of course none of those saves
were against anybody good in any pressure situation, after all its only April right?
    Which leads me to Yankees Red Sox. Correct me if I'm wrong, but did the season not just start a
mere 2 weeks ago? They have played 12 games so far, why is everyone acting as if this is the middle of
October. I sort of understand the Red Sox point of view, with all their "woe is us we haven't won since
the War of 1812" crap, but the Yankees and their fans are hyping this up just as much. I mean, at work
we sent a guy up to Boston with $600 worth of Yankee garb. I saw the Editor giving someone the
corporate card saying go to Modells and get hats, shirts, jackets, banners, whatever. (It was like the
scene in Caddyshack where Rodney Dangerfield is setting up Mr. Wang with "The whole shmear, bags,
clubs shoes, .....)
    We also flew a banner over Boston saying "The Evil Empire Strikes Back" which made no sense being
that technically the Empire was never struck to begin with. (Someone else pointed that out) From the
sublime to the ridiculous!
    I know as a Met fan, I have an obligation to root for the Red Sox. Problem is, their fans are every bit
the obnoxious jerks that the average Yankee fan is (all present company excluded of course) I mean,
they booed A-Rod unmercifully, despite the fact that he practically tried to give money back so that the
Red Sox could trade for him. (The people in Boston should blame the Players Union for that, not A-Rod)
I swear, it's like Al-Qaeda and Hamas going to war against each other. Who the hell do you root for?  
2004 can't be worse than 2003. Can it?

Kim's birthday was actually last week and I forgot to mention it with MacGrath's and Krissy's. So a
belated shout out to Kim.

That's all I can think of right now
Have a Great Week
Wild B.