January 20, 2006

        First of all, Happy New Year to all. And please accept my apologies for not writing
sooner. My original plan was to come out with a review of the wedding. But a strange thing
happened.

        Some of my favorite writings were about weddings I've been too, especially the two
that I was in as an usher, Ray McGarvey's and my sister and Steve's weddings. Those two
days were amongst the best times I ever had. I also had a blast doing a reading at Mary and
Auggie's wedding. I was on the wagon for a month before Eddie and Bernadette's wedding
and I let that wagon crash into the waters of Long Beach that night. At Jamesy's wedding, I
still have friends I met that night for the first time at the infamous table 12, and at Timmy's
wedding, I strolled into my bungalow in Rockaway at 7:30 AM, on July 4th. Ace and Trish's
wedding? Maybe the most insane and fun wedding of all, one in which we drank both the
catering hall and the bar out of all their booze, and were all but escorted out of Maine by the
National Guard.  Mary and Frankie's wedding was the first one I went to with Tara, and the
last wedding I attended un married.
       For all these weddings, I was able to write. Usually alot. For Ray & Maureen, Karl &
Trish, AuugieMary, and my sister and Steve, I was able to write whole special editions. So I
figured I could write a book about marrying Tara.

But I haven't been able to.

        First of all, I found out when it's your wedding, it's a blur. Once, someone who will go
nameless said to me "You wrote about this wedding (I think it was Auggie and Mary) as if
you were the one getting hitched. I I I.. me me me."  I write what I'm feeling at the time,
and from my point of view. On my wedding day, I didn't have time to think and all I really
felt was anxiety. It was all about getting to places on time, making sure we had enough
money, making sure all who was coming was there. Photographer, videographer, bus
driver, best men, ushers. Did the readers have their readings? Did the flowers get to the
church? What time do we have to be in the city? How long will it take us to get from the
church to the reception? How bad will traffic on the LIE be? It was like tap dancing in a
minefield.
         And a couple of times I almost went Sean Penn on the photographer and
videographer. I know they were just doing their jobs but they practically follow you into the
can with the cameras. I nearly flipped out on those guys a few times. But I somehow
managed to avoid killing anyone that day.        
            Tara and I had one major goal, and that was to have a wedding like one that we
would want to go to, with great food, great music, and most of all, great people. From the
feedback we've gotten it seems like we accomplished that goal. I know the food was great
because I made sure that Tara and I got to eat. I knew that we had to go table to table and
meet and greet, but I wanted us to have a few minutes to chow down. Tara was anxious to
get started with the thank you's, but I knew once we started we wouldn't be able to go back,
so I told her I wasn't leaving the dais till me plate was clean. I know it may sound rude, but it
was the best decision I made all night. There were people snapping pictures away while I was
scarfing down my dinner and I didn't care. They were clicking on their glasses for us to kiss
and I kept right on eating. And I ended up being right too. We were at our table maybe 5
minutes the entire wedding.
        I want to write about the wedding in a way that is more reflective of the what is was,
that is, the best day of my life. Sometimes, you need to look back on something to truly
appreciate it, and trying to do it one, two even three weeks to a month after it happens, you
can't do it justice.
        One thing I can say beyond the shadow of a doubt, is that I love being married. People
around the office say that I've had an extra bounce in my step. I don't know about that, but
I'm definitely enjoying married life. I know its only been a couple of weeks and we haven't
had to face any real crisis, but so far, it has been a real blast. It helps when you have a wife
who is as incredible as Tara, but its also the excitement of starting a new life. I really
thought that it would be more overwhelming than it has been, but it's been fun. During the
cake cutting, I had the DJ play "With a Little Luck" by Paul McCartney and Wings. When I had
told people I thought that would be a good wedding song, they laughed. But the song
contains these lines:

                          There is no end to what we can do..together.
                          The willow turns his back on inclement weather
                          And if he can do it, we can do it
                          Just me and you.

I believe that applies to Tara and I, now more than ever.

       So there will come a day where I will write all about the wedding, the good and the
better. And for all those who made it the party that it was, I thank you.

Now back to reality.

In his song about September 11th, Alan Jackson sings "I watch CNN, but I'm not sure I can
tell you, the difference between Iraq and Iran.
Well, from where I'm sitting, it seems the big difference is that Iran is close to having
nuclear capabilities and a leader hell-bent on using those capabilities to take out his enemies,
including Israel and the US, whereas Iraq, who we all thought had said capabilities but really
didn't, is where our troops are right now.
       In his State of the Union address in 2002, President Bush referred to Iraq, Iran and
North Korea as "the Axis of Evil" for which he was scorned by the liberal media. Ends up he
was right about that, but (dare I say it) wrong about how he went about handling it.
       People have mistakenly said that I have unconditionally supported the war from the
beginning. They are wrong. I said that I supported it as long as it didn't take away from the
bigger task of destroying al-Qaeda. I also didn't ridicule anyone who opposed the war, just
the ones that opposed it because they hated America, or thought that we were being
arrogant bullies and occupiers. The ones who say that we brought 9/11 upon ourselves.
Mostly the far left.
        But those who say the war has taken us away from getting Bin Laden have a
legitimate beef. And now, so do the ones who say that Iran is the bigger threat.

BTW: Bin-Laden supposedly offered a truce in which we pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq and
he won't attack us anymore. Yeah, OK. How's about this for a truce. You turn yourself over
to American authorities and admit that you planned 9/11. Then you tell us where all your cells
are hiding out. Then we execute you as painfully and as tortuously as possible. Then we'll pull
out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and prepare to attack Iran.
Deal?

Sports:  Herminated

        I've tried to get to the bottom of the mess that was the release of Jet coach Herman
Edwards and to be honest, I'm not really sure who I believe. Most of those involved insist
that Edwards was miserable in New York and wanted to get out, but in the next breath they
say he was asking for an extension. Edwards people say yes he wanted an extension, but
didn't want to necessarily leave the Jets, but was forced out by owner Woody Johnson.
        I can't even work up a lather anymore about coaches and players who break contracts
because lets face it, they mean nothing. All Edwards has to do is go and win a Super Bowl
and all the media lacing into him will call him a genius. (See the New England Patriots) But I
can tell you this, and I liked Edwards. There is no way in hell that he deserved a contract
extension. Not after a 4-12 season. Did he deserve to get fired? Probably not, though his
game management skills are a joke, and I still believe it was he and not Doug Brien who cost
the Jets that playoff game in Pittsburgh last year. Injuries did Edwards in this year, losing
both QB's, Curtis Martin and most of the offensive line. But if the story is true that Edwards
wanted a contract extension and failing to get one, begged out of his existing contract, then
let him go to Kansas City. Better yet, he can go to hell.

Madison Square Garden gave Mark Messier a tribute last Thursday. Now here's Weekly Mail's
tribute.

In 1997, Messier told the Rangers that he wanted them to bolster the line-up by signing a
couple of free agents, namely Mike Keane and Brian Skrudland, two solid veteran forwards.
He assured the Garden brass that he would gladly wait till they took care of that business,
because he had no intention of going anywhere else.
      A couple of weeks later, after the Rangers had gotten both players, it was reported that
Messier's contract would probably be wrapped up later that week. The next day, Messier
lashed out at those reports, and said that the Rangers were low balling him and that he was
talking to other teams. A week later, he signed with the Vancouver Canucks. It would come
out later that what really got Messier's goat was the fact that Patrick Ewing, who won squat
with the Knicks had signed a 4 year $60 million extension. I agreed that he had a legitimate
beef, but I also said that he forever forfeited the right to hold himself above the standard of
the greedy athlete. He was just as bad as the rest of them I said and probably worse,
because he supposedly held himself in a higher regard than all that.
       So when he returned to the Garden for the first time as a Canuck, on November 25,
1997, I wasn't really planning to tuning in too much. And it didn't matter anyway, because
that was night we were going to pick up our tuxedos for Ray's wedding.
       I was waiting for Ray and Karl to pick me up that night when Messier took the ice to a
loud ovation along with a smattering of boos. (Which is what I would have been doing) Right
before they dropped the puck however, the Garden brass surprised Messier with a video
tribute set to Carole King's Now and Forever (the same song Dana Reeve sang for him the
other night). The video itself was filled with images from 1994.
         It wasn't very long, maybe a minute, but when it was over the words THANKS MARK,
appeared. When the camera went back to Messier, he was leaning on the boards, crying.
          My father isn't known for his emotion, but he looked at me and said "Now how can
you still be mad at him. Look at that!" But I had bigger problems, mainly explaining to Ray
and Karl, who were outside blaring the horn, why I needed a few minutes to pull myself
together. When I got in the car, I started complaining about Messier again and what a jerk I
thought he was. But that was as much to keep myself from turning into a puddle than
anything.
       
POSTSCRIPT: Messier came back to the Rangers in 2000, and all was forgiven. After
Messier, you just had to take it as the nature of sports, you just wish the guys would be a
bit more honest. The tribute they had for him the other night was amazing, if a bit over
done. (For all these ceremonies, I would eliminate the gift giving. Mark Messier made about
30 million bucks as a Ranger, I'm sure he could afford to take his family to Ireland.) But
having the 94 team there, and the song by Reeve, (who is being treating for lung cancer)
and of course watching the jersey go up to the rafters, was quite a thrill.


The day of the wedding, I heard that no less than 3 readers were had gotten engaged. So
belated congrats to Keith, Melissa and Nisha, and please let your future spouses know that
they got extremely lucky, ending up with awesome people like yourselves.

Everyone else. May 2006 be a magical year for y'all.

Have a Great Week
Wild B.