R.I.P Kid

It's not often I write non humorous items in this space but I do need to be somber for a day to remember Gary Carter as he passed yesterday afternoon at 57 years after a 1 year battle with brain cancer.

Gary was THE catcher in baseball during my coming of age in the 1980s and of course joined my favorite team, the Mets, via a 1984 trade. I remember cheering for him when we went to see the games at Shea and I always remember that smile.

Gary was my idol growing up. I wanted to catch because he caught, I wore #8 because that was his number. I even wanted to hit home runs like he did, but, we'll some people have talent and some of us blog.
But above all was that smile. I remember how much he loved to play the game. It's funny as I hear countless former Major Leaguers recount their memories of Carter that they repeat his love of game over and over, yet it was something I picked up as a small kid just starting out in the game.

The posts on Facebook started yesterday afternoon and continue today. But one story in particular resonates with me because it reminds me of one of my own and shows what a great person Gary was and how he always had time for his fans. A friend of mine tells how, as a kid, he took a picture of various Carter baseball cards and sent it to Gary (remember when you could just mail things to your favorite players and not have to follow them on the Twitter?) Anyway he gets a letter back a little later and in it is the picture with an autograph and some new cards, also autographed.

My story is similar. I remember sending a birthday letter to Gary one year (maybe '85 or '86). I don't think I said anything other then I was a fan and Happy Birthday, but in the mail a few weeks later came a 5x7 color picture with an autograph! Do you know what that means to a 10 year old kid? And it wasn't just a signed name. He wrote "Thanks for the birthday wishes, Gary Carter" I sent a similar letter the next year with the same results (different picture).

I only wish I had enough foresight to save those as I got older. I would have really liked to go back and looked at them last night. Instead, we put in the DVD of game 6 of the '86 World Series and showed our kid about The Kid. I hope when he gets older and starts playing ball (or doing whatever he does) that my son will display the same love and excitement and enthusiasm that Carter showed all of us over the years.

Heartbreak, Hair-Loss, and Housewives

Quite an interesting Sunday at Bloggerman Central, as a busy morning running errands led into an afternoon of (mostly) sports debauchery. I’m very happy to report that through it all both the TV and the computer received no substantial damages as the scene could have turned out much worse.

First the Heartbreak. Those loveable “Amazins” from Queens had a chance to make the playoffs after a pitiful first half of the season. They had to win and hope that the Brew Crew in Wisconsin dropped their game to the Cubbies. If they failed it would be the last game ever in Shea has they prepare to move to their new home next spring. After the Fish plated a two in the sixth doom and gloom set in until Carlos Beltran smacked an offering deep and gone to left to tie it up. You had the feeling that that for all the ups and downs and queasiness that this season has heaped upon my shoulders that they may actually pull this one off and we can walk away contented. That might have been the case if we didn’t have to bring in the bullpen who promptly gave up two home runs in the top of the seventh. But this was the final game at Shea and there had to be some magic right? Uh-uh. None here, as both Delgado and Church’s late inning drives dropped harmlessly into the Marlins’ gloves in left and right center respectively. It was a sad way to close a tough season and say goodbye to (what for me is) an institution. I grew up at Shea and it was the only home I knew for the Mets.

Here are my top 3 moments there (in order of occurrence):
1) Going down on the field for a Jr. Mets clinic and getting catching tips from (then) pitching coach, Mel Stottlemyre.

2) Sitting up in the upper deck during an April doubleheader with the Cubs, threatening to take my shirt off if Tim Teufel didn’t get a hit.

3) This was the most important one btw: Mrs. Bloggerman accepting my proposal of marriage on April 23 in a suite along the 3rd base line. (oh yeah, Mr. Met was there too).

Now the Hair-Loss. Somebody call Giuseppe Franco because I ain’t got no stinkin hair left. My fantasy baseball team (coincidentally, also called “Nobody Likes a Jerk”) was leading in the championship week by almost 70 points going into Saturday’s games. Well that lead quickly started to fall apart as my pitchers were scratched for their weekend starts for a variety of reasons and my opponents’ were firing on all cylinders. And although he did defeat me (Congrats Chris!) my leading hitter for the week, Joey Votto’s 41 points were more then his top two hitters combined. None the less I’m bummed but will take my winnings and maybe buy Mrs. Bloggerman something nice. We’ll see. Any ideas?

And Finally the Housewives. Last night is a prime example about why I need to catch up with my “shows” and can’t rely on the DVR. Desperate Housewives premiered its new season on ABC last night and I missed it. Why you ask? (go ahead ask!) Well because I had to watch the last 4 episodes from last season online last night because our DVR had to be replaced shortly after the end of last season thereby erasing all of the saved episodes. And because ABC only airs the 4 most recently aired ones (including repeats) I had to wait all summer until they caught up with me. So last night why Mrs. Bloggerman was upstairs watching something or other, I was at the kitchen table immersed in the going-ons of Wisteria Lane.

More Stuff I Forgot or Want to Add On

Ok there are a few things that I didn’t get to or more likely, my brain didn’t process before the posting deadlines. I want to add them here.

Crazy Legs
So while we were walking up to the ball park on Saturday night, I bumped into World Competitive Eating Champ, Crazy Legs Conti. He was on site for a run up to the annual July 4 Nathans Hot Dog Eating Contest. It was quite an experience. I didn’t get a chance to ask him if I could learn under his expert tutelage but then again I don’t think it would do a diet good.

Pics from Day 1
Here are some assorted pics from Day 1 at Shea.

The view of Citi Field the new ballpark

a few lone holdouts in the rain
Everything in NY has to list calories (400 for the Nathan's Dog)

The Danny Heep Jersey as referenced yesterday. The winner of the most obscure jersey contest

Special Election
Yesterday there was a special election for the Congressional seat vacated by fat Al Wynn. Wynn lost the primary vote a few months back and decided to bail out and stick the taxpayers with the $1 million bill for a special election that will put somebody in Congress for the next 4 months.

In yesterday’s election we were able to choose between a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent, or write in your own candidate. Well guess which one Bloggerman chose? Yep, I received exactly one vote for the US Congress, Maryland, 4^th district. I didn’t win because Mrs. Bloggerman decided to vote against her husband cast a vote for what she dubbed “a real candidate”. I hope all the Gays and Lesbians getting married in California in the upcoming months (Way to go by the way!!!) realize that they are in for exactly this kind of miserable matrimonial bliss. By the way here are the results of the election if you care.

You Give Us 22 Minutes and We’ll Give You a Trip to NYC (DAY 1)

So Mr. and Mrs. Bloggerman took a trip up to NYC to see our beloved Metropolitans play their final season in the open-air toilet bowl otherwise known as Shea Stadium. I’ll spare you most of the minutia to include the entire playlist on the radio on the drive up from DC (although I will say that we did get to hear the Schmoozer, Steve Somers, on WFAN when we crossed in to Jersey)

The Sign
The trip up was good and relatively traffic free (save the BQE) and we made it up to meet with some friends in Queens a little after 1230. After a really good Eggplant parm sandwich with all the orthodoxy walking back from shul we crossed the street to one of the best signs I’ve ever seen.

This is in response to a spate of pedestrian accidents in the crosswalk. Talk about signage that “tells it like it is”. Now all we need is the sign to sit next to the red light that says, “Hey Dumbass…you in the car…the red light means STOP and is not optional!”

The Rain Delay
We headed to Shea at 530p on Saturday for a 710p game in order to catch batting practice and tour around the stadium. It had just begun to rain but we were told that the storm would just be a summer thunderstorm and pass quickly. Not so fast. Come 645p the tarp was still on the infield and the rains hadn’t let up yet. About that time we took the time to appreciate the finer points of Shea that we might have overlooked in the past. This includes some of the area around the stadium including the old World’s Fair grounds. We also took interest in finding the “Most Obscure Player’s Jersey” that a fan was wearing. Plenty of folks have David Wright, Jose Reyes, Johan Santana jerseys but what about the Alan Zinter, Tony Clark, or Tim Tuffel’s of the world? Well we didn’t any of those but did actually find someone with a Danny Heep. What’s even better then that? She had it signed! BTW: This guy wearing the Dave Kingman was a close second place on our list! Around 715p the rains lightened up and we checked out our seats. Upper Deck but right over home plate….near perfect! The only problem was that the rain started to kick up again and we had lighting to boot. Instead of retreating back into the now crowding concourses we decided to hoof it up some 20 rows to the top of the upper deck that is protected by overhead awning. While up there we managed to pass the time by:

A: Taking in the car fire out in the parking lots in right field.

B: Hanging out with Cowbell Man

C: Watching the visiting Texas Rangers use the infield for the worlds largest slip and slide

Finally the team canceled the game around 830pm. We trudged down through the rain and out of the stadium stopping to pick up some additional free swag commemorating the final season of this dump.

Chinese and a Cookie
Since we were soaked we headed back to the hotel, changed, grabbed the car and headed to downtown Flushing where we heard there was a meca of Chinese food. We weren’t disappointed and were referred to a very modern looking place called Sunway Café. As somebody on a food board said (I read today) it looks like a Chinese Howard Johnsons.

They weren’t wrong but the food was really good and a huge variety of mostly good and greasy Cantonese fare (the kind of food I’d equate to a really good greasy spoon/diner when you’re up at midnight). We split a few dishes (Rice w/ omelets and raisins, baked chicken with black pepper, and then something I don’t remember the name of but is described by one critic as ”… an order of crispy noodles, said material wrapped in squishy rice noodle, served with a dollop of syrupy Hoisin sauce. Mellow greasy vibe.”

Finishing off the meal, a watermelon juice and bubble tea for the misses. Now to find a good cookie to finish off the night.

Not as simple as it sounds! You see evidently the rain has forced the shut down of some roads (with 5 ft of water!!) and the rerouting of others. After driving around and sitting in traffic we end up at a Pathmark over by our hotel. They have a wonderful looking bakery case but not a single fresh baked (today) cookie to be found as midnight rolls around. Bloggerman was starting to get huffy and the Misses was doing her best (G-d bless her) to calm me down. Alas, we found a diner nearby and dug into a very soft and pillow-y (thus good) chocolate chipper and dozed off for the night.

Tune in later today for Part II and updated pics here.

Humpty Dum(b)pty Part II and So Long L’Orange

Being a Met fan I’ve tasted my share of disappointment and heartache at the hands of the Atlanta Braves, but nothing irks me as much as that insipid “Tomahawk” chop they perform by mimicking an ax motion with their arms to the beat of a Seminole war drum. It makes me wish that a tribe of Seminole warriors would rise up from hiding in the upper decks of Turner Field and rain down a barrage of arrows and slings into the fans. If nothing else it would certainly stop them from doing things that Mets fans have tried and failed at.

Specifically I’m speaking of sliding down stair and escalator rails. Last month a fan leaving a Mets game at Shea with his young daughters, decided it would be “funny” to ignore the sign on the down escalator that said “closed” and instead, slide down the railing. Yeah it was freakin’ hilarious as he slipped off and fell several stories to the concrete pavilion below and his death (which his young girls had to witness and will probably be haunted by for the rest of their lives.) Well rejoice, Brave Fan, because you proved yesterday you are just as stupid.

Today’s NY Daily News reports about Justin Hayes, a 25 year old who yesterday died when he fell several stories at Atlanta’s Turner Field while trying to “slide down a stairway railing.”

Lets see, what would inspire somebody to slide down the railings? Would it be such a love of adventure and “X-Games” that they see the railing and the potential danger a fall from said rail posses and say, “Damn the torpedoes…let’s get extreme!” (Harold and Kumar shout out!) Or can it be, possibly, maybe, perhaps, slightly, an outside chance of, an inkling of….BEER?! Even those of you who debase yourselves to read this site on a regular basis can answer that question. (For those of you who are first timers here…the answer is the latter!)

Perhaps these teams and ballpark operators might think about cutting down the amount (quantity) of beer served. They could start by limiting beer by age. The younger you are (above 21) the less beer you get. For example, a 25 year old, could only buy 2 10-oz beers at a time, while a 60 year old could buy 2 20-oz cups at once. This works kind of like car insurance. The younger you are the more you pay because you are more of a risk on the road and to your car. Further drawing this out, maybe you can get your hand stamped so that each beer you buy you get a stamp. Each person at the game (of age) gets up to 4 stamps, at which time they are cut off. I like to drink a beer as much as the next guy but even I can limit myself to a few brews for 9 innings. Just an idea.

L’orange, we hardly knew the. For those of you who have been keeping track, and I don’t know how if you haven’t been to our home, in which case why are you there when we’re at work, and if you were there when we were home, how come you didn’t knock and say hello….what kind of anti social SOB are you?? But I digress. L’orange is the name we bestowed upon a duck (mallard we think) who took up residence for her nest between the base of our house and the azalea bush in the flowerbed. There she laid an egg and has been nesting on it for the last month or so (actual gestation period is in the range of 20-30 days for ducks.) Alas upon leaving the house this morning, she was gone and in her next were the shell fragments from a cracked/hatched egg. We wish her and her new duckling well and may her next child be a masculine child. Or at least a really good omelet with a side of bacon.

Painting the Citi Green

Nope, they ain't bring back the Jew (Shaun). Oh and don't bother with your Sherman Williams paint swatch guide as that won't help either.

However if you are of an eco-mind (even Bloggerman recycles...especially old posts) then you'll want to make sure you're a Mets fan! Straight from the horses mouth, the friggin Government no less, the Mets new ballpark, Citi Field, will be "green.". You can read more about it here on their blog.


It is Earth Day (or Earth Week) after all and its good to see that so much tax payer dollars can at least be environmentally friendly. Speaking of which...I have some blueprints to post tomorrow on these fancy dancey planter boxes that the "Dads" and I built over the weekend.

Stay tuned for that and for a semi-full Passover recap.

Taxes, A Ballgame, and a Whiskey Chaser

Today is tax day and while my mother-in-law is hard at work (making sure her clients have to contribute as little as possible to the tax base), but she is behind her desk and not really "getting out there" with the people. This isn't really a bad thing since "the people" are mostly idiots.

But even with that, sometimes a change of scenery is a good thing, and several enterprising CPAs, or at least a guy with a calculator and a tie, are getting out and mingling. Take for example the firm of Gilman Ciocia who decided that a section of the bleachers at Shea Stadium would be as good a place as any to set up shop. Well technically they are in the concourse of the stadium, but to be able to get your taxes done and then grab a beer and a dog on the way to your seats ain’t too bad of an idea. Or you can also take your cookie tin of receipts to your neighborhood pub where during the weekend afternoons you may find a CPA (or bouncer) who can help you file just before you blow your refund check on the watered down $4 drafts.

Speaking of taxes. I wanted to point you in the direction of an interesting defense for the “Fair Tax “ Now never you mind that my B-in-L has a blog by the same title or that my niece is featured in one of the videos on this site. I’m just happy that somebody that looks a lot like the B-in-L is out there in cyberspace bloggin’ his little heart out. Of course this means that he may no longer send me the good info and keep it for himself but I’m willing to take that chance.