November 3, 2003

Hey

    Saturday was Frankie's 30th birthday surprise party. Auggie and I drove out to his parents house in
East Meadow to drop off Brendan and James, and then we met up with Karl and Trish for the hour or so
drive to East Marion.
    Frankie had already arrived by the time we got there, so we didn't see the shock on his face. We just
got right to the eating and drinking part. Which was fine because all the food was outstanding.
    The house is nice too. The garage is basically a shrine to Tony Stewart. The cake was designed like a
racetrack with Jeff Gordon's car on it. (Frankie hates Jeff Gordon, but he appreciated the gesture).
    While at the house, we decided on a few things. Number 1, November 13 will hereby be declared Felix
Unger Day. November 13 was the day Felix was asked to remove himself from his apartment. The
request as we all know, came from his wife. (Details to follow.)
    We also debated about Justin Fargas, the son of Antonio Fargas better known as Huggy Bear from
Starsky and Hutch. Does he play baseball or football. (Correct answer: He plays football for the Raiders)
There was a lively but civil political round table between Gary, Ace, Auggie and myself. And speaking of
Gary, we got to see little Grace, his 6 month old daughter.
I left with Ace and Trish a bit beofre 10. They dropped me of at KC Moore's after 11. It was their 5th
anniversary party. So I stayed there for a couple of hours. Needless to say, Sunday was a bit rough.
Especially since both the Jets and the Rangers lost in overtime.

BASEBALL 2003 Wrap-up

    He's due to make 6 million dollars next year, so who am I to tell him to walk away.
But if I were Joe Torre, that's exactly what I would do. How many managers can come to within 2 wins
from winning the World Series and have their job in jeopardy? Most managers would get an extension for
that, he almost got a pink slip.
    During the summer I was watching an HBO special about the 1980 US Hockey team that beat the
Soviet Union. One of the Soviet players said as he stood on the ice at Lake Placid, he envied the US.
Not just because they won, but because winning had become so ordinary for the USSR, that they
couldn't even really enjoy it. He had forgotten the joy of winning.
So have the Yankees. It's win or bust.  
    Joe Torre looked like hell Saturday night. Going down to those organizational meetings in Tampa must
have felt like going to the chair. This man has won 4 world championships and 6 American League
pennants in 8 years. He's too good a manager to have to take this sh-t. It's alot of money to walk away
from, but if he's really hard up for it, he can get another job, someone would hire him. In a heartbeat.
He should walk away.

    I never saw the actual report, but I heard that Channel 2 News sent a reporter and a camera crew all
over the city to badger people about their American Flags. After 9/11 of course many many people
began to hang American Flags to show support for our country. But now alot of these flags have
become weathered or torn or discolored.
    Now as all of you know, no one has more respect for the flag than I do, and I do believe that the
proper etiqutte for the flag should be followed. But isn't it better to have a flag that's a bit beat up than
have no flag flying at all? Channel 2 might want to stick to reporting real news and leave these poor
people alone.

Frankie's actual birthday is Wednesday. Welcome to the 30 club.

Have a Great Week
Bill