April 7, 2006

Hello


         I don't know if it ever happened to you, but do you remember back in school,when
you would get a day off that no one else had? Or at least most other people had? Like St.
Patrick's Day for example. I know many of you got to take the day off and march in the
parade, while the rest of us went to school. I remember one year, I got to take a day off
because my dad was the Grand Marshall of a parade in Woodhaven, and then a few years
later, I took the day off to go to the Vietnam Veterans Parade.
Those were the best holidays, the one's that you could practically call your own.
      Well for the past few years, my favorite holiday has been one of those personal
holidays, although its one I've shared wth about 55,000 people. It's Opening Day at Shea
Stadium, and I've been to about 11 of them, including the last 7. Until this year.
       This year, we could only get them in a package that included 6 other crappy games. So
we took a better package and gave up Opening day. But I still wanted to make this Opening
Day a bit of a holiday.
So I planned on getting up early and heading into Woodside and watching the game with Bill
Sr., after lunch with mom and catching up on the Sopranos.
       Well it started off all right, lunch with mom was great and the Sopranos was OK, but
since my folks have Directv, the game wasn't on.
        Apparently, the negotiations between Directv and SportsNet NY were ongoing but
produced no results, therefore we were shut-out. But then we got teased a bit.
         Direct TV's sports tier includes regional sports channels of all the major metropolitan
areas. You get everything but the pro games, which are blacked out unless you pay for
them. So we put on Channel 626, which was FOX Sports DC or something like that, and the
game was on! We got to watch about 2 innings, then right in the middle of a play, the screen
went blank and then they said it was blacked out in our area. Wonderful.
          I figured I would go home and watch the last couple of innings, but traffic was bad,
and I missed that too. I would have seen the game if I had just invited dad into the city, but
I figured he'd rather watch it in Woodside. So thank you very little Fred Wilpon and whoever
that guy is who owns DirectV. Thanks for ruining Opening Day. I won't soon forget it.


For what its worth, (and its not a hell of alot) here are my predictions for the 2006 season:

AL East

1) Yankees---But they'll only win about 85 games
2) Blue Jays--Will make it close
3) Red Sox--The mighty have fallen
4) Orioles--Decent talent, clueless organization
5) Devil Rays--Clueless organization

AL Central

1) Indians--Came close last year
2) White Sox--Defending champs will fall slightly
3) Twins--Solid top of rotation good closer, no hitting
4) Tigers--Still rebuilding
5) Royals--No shot

AL West

1) Angels--Best of the West
2) Rangers--If Buck gets fired, they could contend for Series
3) A's--Will see if moneyball draft produces here
4) Mariners--Icharo, and not much else


Playoffs: Angels over White Sox
Indians over Yankees
Indians over Angels



NL East

1) Braves--Still the champs
2) METS--Unless Benson, Seo trades backfire
3) Nationals--Could be solid
4) Phillies--No pitching
5) Marlins--Could be in San Antonio soon

NL Central

1) Cubs--It's their turn
2) Cardinals--Always solid
3) Astros--Lost too many keys from last year
4) Brewers--Could actually contend
5) Reds--David Weathers=their closer
6) Pirates-Young, up and coming. Could contend next year


NL West

1) Dodgers--By default
2) Padres--Hope Piazza hits 40 HR's
3) Giants--Bonds roid circus will kepp them mediocre
4) D'Backs--Got some young hitting
5) Rockies--Denver not made for baseball

Playoffs-Braves over Dodgers
Cubs over Mets
Cubs over Braves

WORLD SERIES
Cubs over Indians (It's their turn right?)

Belated Happy Birthdays to Joann, Trish, Ray and Grace A. Haley. The first 3 were a week
ago last Tuesday and Amazing Grace celebrated on April 5th.

Everyone Else
Have a Great Week
Bill