Monday Morning Video Laugh - September 21, 2026

The super under-appreciated David Hyde Pierce.

Dinner last night:  Chicken tenders and roasted tomatoes.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - When Football Was Important To Me

 

Well, that's one long title.

The NFL football season started last Sunday and, frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn.  I started losing interest in pro football about two decades ago.  The players seemed to become more intense and increasingly cartoonish with their histrionics in the end zone and the manner in a tackle has to completely demolish the other guy.  Admittedly, American society has gotten much darker and sinister, which explains why football is now so revered in this country.

But my ambivalence wasn't always like this.  Back when I was a kid, I wandered from baseball to football as soon as the leaves started to become a crispy gold and brown.  I think this pleased my father who was a big fan. 

Now, in those days, pro football wasn't much of a sport you could watch on television.  Well, the road games of your favorite team were televised.  But blackout rules prevailed and any home games were not shown.  You had to listen to them on...gasp...the radio.  Or, if you lived in New York, you drove up to Connecticut and, provided you were close enough to the Hartford-New Haven TV market, you watched games there.  Some pulled up bar stools.  Others actually rented motel rooms to see their beloved Jets and Giants.  Hopefully, the sheets cooled off after a robust Saturday night.

As for my house, my first foray into football fandom was for the Jets as I was again adopting the allegiance of the new kids in town.  I remember my dad always listening to the New York Giant games on WNEW AM Radio, but, just as he with baseball, he gravitated to my team as well.  Fathers make those kinds of sacrifices.  Plus I previously have written about the year I spent going to Jet games at Shea Stadium with my mom's boss and her boyfriend, who were season ticket holders.   So, I suppose that I was a major part of the Jet faithful.

But, almost as soon as I became a Jet fan, they won the Super Bowl and they got a little boring as a result.  Of course, at the time, nobody knew that they wouldn't get another shot at it for the next two centuries.  So, my love for a football team wasn't as deep as it was for the New York Mets.  I could be easily pulled away.

Back in the day, it was virtually impossible to get tickets to New York Giant football games.  Most of the patrons were season ticket holders since the 1800s and seat plans were often included in last wills and testaments.  There were 60,000 privileged people every Sunday who got to enter their then-home of Yankee Stadium.

The prospect of going to a New York Giant game was about as alien to me as a trip to the Moon.  And, hell, there were people going there back then.  So, you can imagine my surprise when, on one September Saturday, I got a call from my best friend at school, Danny.

"A guy my dad knows is offering us his two season tickets for tomorrow's Giant game."

Huh?

I never turned down any invitations to any sporting event at that age.  And, since my friends and I were already well versed in traveling to Shea and Yankee Stadium by ourselves, I didn't foresee any parental opposition.

Surprise.  My dad, who probably had never been to a Giant football game himself, was a bit defensive.  And probably a little bit envious.

"What do you want to go down there for?   A lot of nuts in that place."

Well, yeah.  So? 

"It's too damn crowded.  You'll get lost."

Well, maybe.  So?

"Lots of traffic down there.  The two of you will get clipped."

I doubt it.  So?

But, as most fathers always do, my dad caved in.  As long as he could orchestrate the whole day.  He'd drive me and Danny to the Jerome Avenue subway train which would let us off right in from of the stadium.   He'd listen to the game and then time our return home and wait for us at the train station. 

And so he did. 

Meanwhile, Danny and I walked into that stadium like kings on that Sunday.  We felt like we belonged to the most elite group in the world.  The seats sucked.  Actually, the view at the top of this blog was pretty much our POV.  But, we didn't care.  And we rooted for the home team because, heck, everybody around us had owned their season tickets the turn of the century.

Yes, we became Giant fans.  And, you can imagine our euphoria when Danny got the call one Saturday later about tickets to the very next game.  

As it turns out, because the season ticket owner was having some business issues, we got to go to four of the seven home games that year.  He let us know on Saturday and, when the call came, we were delirious.  It was great.   We started to be on a first-name basis with the folks around us.   And my father's transport service and our Sunday schedule became almost robotic.

These days, football teams can make the playoffs if they score more than three touchdowns all season.  But, back then, it was a more prestigious group that moved forward.  And the Giants had to win on the last home Sunday to go into the playoffs.   This was the game everybody in town was talking about.

Danny and I waited eagerly for the Saturday call.  That never came.

Now, I was desperate to see this damn game.  So, I really pushed the envelope with my father.   

I suggested we drive to Connecticut and find a motel or bar that was airing the game.

"What are you, some kind of nut??"

I listened on the radio.  The Giants lost.   They didn't make the playoffs.  

And, since there were never any tickets in any subsequent year, my Giant fan days were done.

Dinner last night:  Orange chicken from Panda Express.

Classic TV Theme of the Month - September 2026

 Wow!  This premiered sixty years ago this week.

Dinner last night:  The buffet at the Dodger Stadium season ticket holder party.

The School Photographer is Back!

 

Barack Obama, Second Grade.

Mad Magazine had to start some place.

Nancy Guthrie could be in there.

Yes, the guy behind the camera is a pedophile.

Future bimbo runway model.

Sally Struthers, Age 8.

Hey, kid, that smell just might be you.

If Howard Stern got a nose job.

Dinner last night:  Salisbury steak.

One Last 9/11 Story

 

And it's one I can't believe.  Or stomach.  

It's not a remembrance from 2001.   It was last week as related by a work colleague who has a kid in college.   I don't know if the class involved was history or journalism.  But the reference comes from whatever dumbbell stands in front of this class to lecture.

You see, this higher educator numbskull went on a soap box to talk about how the planes going into the WTC was an early form of AI.

I heard this and shook my head.   

Yeah, the buildings never crumbled to the ground.

Almost 3,000 lives didn't end on that day.

People who worked in Ground Zero didn't get life-ending cancer years later.

I can only hope this teacher was making a sick joke.  It would be hard to fathom that somebody actually believes this.  And shares it with a bunch of kids who weren't even born in 2001.

As I always say, academia rhymes with macadamia.   Fitting because they're both nuts.

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.

This Date in History - September 16

 

Happy birthday to Ed Begley Jr., who co-starred in one of my favorite TV shows of all time, "St. Elsewhere."

307:  EMPEROR SEVERUS II IS CAPTURED AND IMPRISONED AT TRES TABERNAE.  HE IS LATER EXECUTED.

That's a little severus, don't you think?

1400:  OWAIN GLYNDWR IS DECLARED PRINCE OF WALES BY HIS FOLLOWERS.

Give that last name a vowel, please.

1620:  PILGRIMS SET SAIL FROM ENGLAND ON THE MAYFLOWER.

Trying to beat the Thanksgiving traffic.

1776:  THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION - THE BATTLE OF HARLEM HEIGHTS IS FOUGHT.

I hope they don't damage the Apollo Theater.

1810:  WITH THE GRITO DE DOLORES, FATHER MIGUEL HIDALGO BEGINS MEXICO'S FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE FROM SPAIN.

Grito de Dolores?   Does that come with guacamole?

1880:  THE CORNELL DAILY SUN PRINTS ITS FIRST ISSUE IN ITHACA, NEW YORK.  THE SUN IS THE NATION'S OLDEST, CONTINUOUSLY-INDEPENDENT COLLEGE DAILY.

As if college students are truly independent.

1908:  THE GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION IS FOUNDED.

Recall.

1914:  TV DIRECTOR ALLEN FUNT IS BORN.

Smile.

1919:  THE AMERICAN LEGION IS INCORPORATED.

Just what do they do besides march in your local Memorial Day parade?

1920:  A BOMB IN A HORSE WAGON EXPLODES IN FRONT OF THE JP MORGAN BUILDING IN NEW YORK CITY AND KILLS 38 WHILE INJURING 400.

Not exactly an improvement - years later, terrorists use children instead of horses.

1924:  ACTRESS LAUREN BACALL IS BORN.

You just know she was a bitch.

1927:  ACTOR PETER FALK IS BORN.

Just one more question...

1934:  ACTOR GEORGE CHAKIRIS IS BORN.

Take the Sharks over the Jets with the points.

1943:  WORLD WAR II - THE ALLIED INVASION OF ITALY CONCLUDES WHEN HEINRICH VON VIETINGHOFF, COMMANDER OF THE GERMAN TENTH ARMY, ORDERS HIS TROOPS TO WITHDRAW FROM SALERNO.

Mr. Vietinghoff to you.

1945:  WORLD WAR II - THE SURRENDER OF THE JAPANESE TROOPS IN HONG KONG IS ACCEPTED.

Who knows a notary public, please?

1949:  ACTOR ED BEGLEY JR. IS BORN.

In his honor, take the bus today.

1955:  THE MILITARY COUP TO UNSEAT PRESIDENT JUAN PERON OF ARGENTINA IS LAUNCHED AT MIDNIGHT.

Don't cry for me, yada yada yada.

1956: MAGICIAN DAVID COPPERFIELD IS BORN.

Presto.

1958:  BASEBALL STAR OREL HERSHISER IS BORN.

Great baseball announcer, but, boy, did I hate him back in 1988.

1959:  THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL PHOTOCOPIER, THE XEROX 914, IS INTRODUCED IN A LIVE TV DEMONSTRATION.

Somebody forgot to add paper.

1965:  ANIMATOR FRED QUIMBY DIES.

I created Gumby, damn it.

1966:  THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE OPENS AT LINCOLN CENTER IN NYC WITH THE WORLD PREMIERE OF SAMUEL BARBER'S "ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA."

What's the over/under that Tony Randall was in the audience that night?

1970:  KING HUSSEIN OF JORDAN DECLARES MILITARY RULE FOLLOWING THE HIJACKING OF FOUR CIVILIAN AIRLINES BY THE POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE.

Just in case you thought those dirtbags in 2001 were all that original.

1980:  SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES JOIN THE UNITED NATIONS.

I think I saw them perform in Greenwich Village.

1992:  THE TRIAL OF THE DEPOSED PANAMANIAN DICTATOR MANUEL NORIEGA ENDS IN THE US WITH A 40-YEAR SENTENCE FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING AND MONEY LAUNDERING.

Forty years too short.

2009:  SINGER MARY TRAVERS DIES.

Peter, Paul, and Nobody.

2013:  A GUNMAN KILLS TWELVE PEOPLE AT THE NAVY YARD IN WASHINGTON, DC.

Just so you realize that this kind of workplace violence will always exist.

2016:  PLAYWRIGHT EDWARD ALBEE DIES.

Who's afraid now?

2021:  ACTRESS JANE POWELL DIES.    

Seven Corpses for Seven Brothers.

2025:  ACTOR ROBERT REDFORD DIES.

Remembering the way he was.

Dinner last night:   Salad. 

One More 9/11 Documentary

 

With the 25th anniversary just past, there were a variety of new documentaries on the subject.  And replays of some old ones.   For me, the newest one might just be the best.   I was crying throughout, largely because "When America Took the Field" connected that horrific tragedy with a love of my life...baseball fandom.

Now there have been other films that covered how Major League Baseball helped our country heal in those first weeks after 9/11.  HBO did one that was very good about 15 years ago.  Indeed, some of the same children who were spotlighted by HBO have their lives updated in this new movie on the MLB Network.   But, indeed. the tone set by this new doc, executive produced by former baseball star Todd Zeile, would move emotionally impact the most casual of fans.

The usual tales are covered.   The kids who lost their dads and moms who are baseball fans.  The first game in NY after 9/11 when Mike Piazza hits a game winning homerun that just be the greatest moment of the sports ever.  Fan connections with the likes of Ken Griffey Jr. and Derek Jeter.  Community outreach by managers Joe Torre and Bobby Valentine who secretly arranged to have one dad's ashes scattered at Shea Stadium's home plate.

Believe me, this movie pulls at your heart strings as if it was a symphony violin. And, as I watched, memories washed over me.   It made me miss Shea Stadium.  It made me recall how strong my love was for the NY Mets during my childhood.  And it made me realize how baseball was the basis of so many of my longtime friends.  

And I thought about my own parents, gone due to illness and not because a building fell on them.  My dad introduced me to the game.  I myself introduced the game to my mother in her later years, largely because she loved both Dwight Gooden and Met announcer Tim McCarver.

This film has it all.   Memories of a grateful nation.  And mine.

LEN'S RATING:  Four stars.

Dinner last night:  Hamburger.

Monday Morning Video Laugh - September 14, 2026

 The super under-appreciated Don Knotts.

Dinner last night:  Ribeye steak and roasted cherry tomatoes.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - Like Yesterday

 

Certainly not 25 years.

We're several days after the annual remembrance of 9/11...the day that changed our nation forever.  In the circles I travel in, we still talk about it.  Just as we had 25 years earlier.  The memory touchstone for several generations.  As I was talking on the phone with someone on the East Coast last Friday, a steady ambulance siren could be heard in the background.   It bothered me.

The wounds are still fresh even now.

I am heartened to see friends still take to social media and commemorate it all anew.   There was one friend's post, however, that essentially took task to George Bush one more time for being the sole reason why 9/11 happened.  Seriously?  No X post was more inappropriate than that one.  Trust me, our foreign relations over the past several decades has suffered and there is plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the aisle, including the ones currently in charge.

But I digress...

That post reminded me of the toxic bi-polarity we reside in these days.   But, it wasn't in 2001.   We were one.   Our nation had come together.  It sadly didn't last for long.   But it was possible for the States of America to be...well...United.

I've written before about my world on that day.  The transplanted New Yorker watching the dust clouds from 3000 miles away and longing to be there for the comfort and hugs of my friends there.  Driving the empty streets of Los Angeles.   Seeing soldiers standing in front of the Federal Building in Westwood with rifles pointed to the air.  My writing partner and I finding the only place open to eat was Nate and Al's in Beverly Hills.   Seated in the booth next to us was Rodney Dangerfield, dressed in pajamas and bedhead.

It all stays with me and as well it should.

But, this year, I recall an earlier part of the day.   Driving home after a truncated workday, I saw those aforementioned soldiers.  Ready to fight whoever and wherever.   It was chilling.   I had a sensation come over me.

I called my pastor and left her a voice mail.   Since I was the church treasurer at the time, I had a complete set of keys to the building (pictured above).   I told her that I was going over to the church to open the doors.   I had this feeling people would seek it out.

I opened the front doors wide.  I took the American Flag and hung it outside.   I didn't care if anybody stole stuff.   It was more important for that place to be available.

I went back later in the day.   My thought process had been correct.  Inside there were four or five folks.   All sitting quietly.  Staring at the altar.  Or with heads bowed solemnly.

Looking for answers to unanswerable questions.  

I was moved by the silence as I stood quietly in the background.  My small act of simply turning a key in a church door had perhaps touched some or many.  

In our own congregation the following Sunday, we had our own catharsis.  Our pastor closed the service by having us all stand in the aisle with our hands joined together.   We sang "God Bless America."

And cried.   Every single one of us.

These days, religion get knocked around.  Thanks to over-politicizing some beliefs or issues, you're almost ashamed to practice what you hear preached.   Now there are more and more people who proclaim that they're "spiritual, not religious."   I think that's code for "I'm sleeping in until the Broncos kick off."

Yet, a quarter century ago, it was a touchstone for folks looking for comfort, solace, and the belief that there is meaning to this world.  

More importantly, my church and your church or house of worship can be that conduit for us to get through days like 9/11.   A reminder that communities can thrive.   And make a difference.

Dinner last night:   Lasagna from my freezer.

Classic Newsreel of the Month - September 2026

 Back in the day, this was clockwork every September.

Dinner last night:  Korean pork.

No Words Today As Always

 

25 Years Ago Tonight.

 All is quiet.

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.

This Date in History - September 9

 

Happy birthday to Angela Cartwright.  Boy, did I have a crush on her during those "Lost In Space" days.

9:  ARMINIUS' ALLIANCE OF SIX GERMANIC TRIBES AMBUSHES AND ANNIHILATES THREE ROMAN LEGIONS OF PUBLIUS QUINCTILIUS VARUS IN THE BATTLE OF THE TEUTOBURG FOREST.

The only thing I care about here is the fact that this was the last single digit year we ever had.

337:  CONSTANTINE II, CONSTANTIUS II, AND CONSTANS SUCCEED THEIR FATHER CONSTANTINE I AS CO-EMPERORS.

Naming your kids all the same thing?  Tacky.

1087:  WILLIAM RUFUS BECOMES KING OF ENGLAND, TAKING THE TITLE OF WILLIAM II.

Clever.  How did he ever come up with that?

1488:  ANNE BECOMES SOVEREIGN DUCHESS OF BRITTANY, BECOMING A CENTRAL FIGURE IN THE STRUGGLE FOR INFLUENCE THAT LEADS TO THE UNION OF BRITTANY AND FRANCE.

I see London, I see France, I see Brittany's underpants.

1543:  MARY STUART, AT NINE MONTHS OLD, IS CROWNED "QUEEN OF SCOTS."  

Well, don't expect her to do much yet.

1776:  THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS OFFICIALLY NAMES ITS NEW UNION THE UNITED STATES.

Back when we really were united.

1791:  WASHINGTON DC, THE CAPITAL OF THE US, IS NAMED AFTER PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTON.

I guess they never bothered to change it under Obama.

1850:  CALIFORNIA IS ADMITTED AS THE THIRTY-FIRST US STATE.

Mexico became the thirty-third.

1850:  THE COMPROMISE OF 1850 TRANSFERS A THIRD OF TEXAS' CLAIMED TERRITORY (NOW PARTS OF COLORADO, KANSAS, NEW MEXICO, OKLAHOMA, AND WYOMING) TO FEDERAL CONTROL IN RETURN FOR THE US GOVERNMENT ASSUMING 10 MILLION DOLLARS OF TEXAS'S PRE-ANNEXATION DEBT.

And, in 2015, they still want to be their own country.

1890:  KFC FOUNDER COLONEL SANDERS IS BORN.

From which side of the rat do you get dark meat?

1914:  DURING WORLD WAR I, THE CREATION OF THE CANADIAN AUTOMOBILE MACHINE GUN BRIGADE AS PART OF THE BRITISH ARMY.

Later to be sold to Elliot Ness and the Untouchables.

1926:  THE NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY IS FORMED.

Bum bum bum.

1932:  ACTRESS SYLVIA MILES IS BORN.

She looked old when she was young.

1940:  GEORGE STIBITZ PIONEERS THE FIRST REMOTE OPERATION OF A COMPUTER.

Where's the control-alt-delete function?

1941:  SINGER OTIS REDDING IS BORN.

Sittin' on the dock...oh, never mind.

1942:  DURING WORLD WAR II, A JAPANESE FLOATPLANE DROPS INCENDIARY BOMBS ON OREGON.

Oregon???  How did they get that far?

1947:  FIRST CASE OF  A COMPUTER BUG BEING FOUND - A MOTH LODGES IN A RELAY OF A HARVARD MARK II COMPUTER AT HARVARD.

So the first computer bug was really a bug.

1952:  ACTRESS ANGELA CARTWRIGHT IS BORN.

National holiday in my house.

1956:  ELVIS PRESLEY APPEARS ON THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW FOR THE FIRST TIME.

From the waist up.

1965:  THE US DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT OPENS.

Yeah, a fat lot of good they've done.

1971:  THE FOUR-DAY ATTICA PRISON RIOT BEGINS, EVENTUALLY RESULTING IN 39 DEAD, MOST KILLED BY STATE TROOPERS RETAKING THE PRISON.

1975:  ACTOR JOHN MCGIVER DIES.

A fellow Fordham graduate.

1993:  THE PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZES ISRAEL AS A STATE.

Sure they do.

1997:  BASEBALL STAR RICHIE ASHBURN DIES.

An original Met.

1999:  ACTRESS RUTH ROMAN DIES.

If I'm not mistaken, she was a survivor of the Andrea Dorea shipwreck.

2009:  THE DUBAI METRO, THE FIRST URBAN TRAIN NETWORK IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA, IS CEREMONIALLY INAUGURATED.

Now there's a train I will never ever be on.

2012:  A WAVE OF ATTACKS KILL MORE THAN 100 PEOPLE AND INJURE 350 OTHERS ACROSS IRAQ.

What kind of attacks?  Terrorist?  Gall bladder?  More info please.

2024:  ACTOR JAMES EARL JONES DIES.

I wonder if the helmet fit into the coffin.

Dinner last night:   Grilled beef sausage.

My Kingdom for a Toothpick

 

Such a small, inconsequential item.   I remember my dad always had one in his mouth after a meal...emulating former baseball manager Dusty Baker.   

As for me, I did all the other things one does to clean teeth.   Oral-B.  Mouthwash.  Dental floss.  But those are tough to do when you are out and about in public.   In those moments, a toothpick is needed.

Try to find one.

Okay, a little back story.   Back of my mouth, particularly.   There's some long term movement of teeth going on in my advanced age.   What is happening has resulted in some pronounced space between two teeth in the left back side of my mouth.  As a result, food gets wedged in there pretty snugly.  And I keep feeling it with my tongue that just makes me even more annoyed.

Now if I am home, there is no issue.  Oral B.  Mouthwash.  Dental floss.  But when I'm out at the movies or at Dodger Stadium or really any public place for that matter, food connects to that area and doesn't move.

A perfect role for a handy toothpick.

Okay, try and find one.

Bartenders don't have them.

Waiters don't have them.

Concession stands don't have them.

Suddenly, you're spending most of your fun evening out in a futile attempt to get a piece of a hot dog out of your mouth.

Last week at the ballpark, I bummed some dental floss off the woman who runs the souvenir stand near me.   That helped but I'm hoping that someone in our society will find reason enough to bring back this little but handy device.   I mean, there are many other uses.   

How does a kid finish his school project which is a piggy back made of toothpicks?

Dinner last night:  Leftover pizza.

Dinner last night:

Monday Morning Video Laugh - September 7, 2026

 Because she is on my mind.

Dinner last night:  Pepperoni pizza at Pizzanna.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - The Labor Day Twinbill

 

"Let's play two!"

Or, in the case of this famous photo from 1964, let's play three or four.   The Mets and Giants had already played the first game of a Sunday doubleheader.   The second game went twenty three innings and lasted till about 11:30PM.   This prompted Bennett Cerf, a panelist on the live broadcast of "What's My Line" on CBS, to mention what was happening on another channel in New York.  

This stuff doesn't pop up anymore because doubleheaders just don't exist anymore unless there are rainouts.  Even then, if they need to play two games in one day, they do it with separate admissions.   

Back in the day, doubleheaders on Labor Day and other holidays were the norm in baseball.   Much to the delight of the Chicago Cubs' longtime hero, the late Ernie Banks, who always wanted to "play two."  This classy guy never played in a World Series game, but certainly you didn't hear a whole lot of whining from him about that. He was simply content to put on a uniform and play America's pastime from sunrise to sunset. And that included a bunch of doubleheaders in Wrigley Field, which didn't even have lights until 1988.

Of course, Ernie would be much annoyed if he was still hitching up the stirrups as an active player in 2026. Because doubleheaders as we used to know them no longer exist. Those Sunday or holiday afternoons devoted to two games, usually starting at 1PM and then winding up around 7PM. These days, the Yankees and the Red Sox usually play a single game in that same time frame. But, back then, this was one neat day at the ballpark. Tons and tons and tons of baseball. Two games for the price of one. Such a deal.

I went to a few of them when I was a kid and they were still regularly scheduled. Armed with my scorebook and a brown bag filled with two Taylor Ham sandwiches, I was neatly tucked away for a day full of memories. I craved a double bill and my father reluctantly complied for a while. I figured he saw a bargain with two games offered for the price of one ticket. Eventually, his participation fell to the hands of that dreaded four word declaration. 

"Too long to sit." 

My dad would ultimately adapt this time-honored phraseology into other great excuses. 

"Too hot to stand." 

"Too far to drive." 

"Too crowded to go." 

He turned it into a science. But, soon enough, I was old enough to battle them by simply going off to enjoy said event with my neighborhood friends. And that most certainly included a baseball doubleheader.

I remember a bunch of them. There was one on a long ago Independence Day when, in the first game, the Mets' Tom Seaver once again flirted with a no-hitter until the Padres' Leron Lee broke it up with one out in the ninth inning. 

There was another late August one in 1984, prompted by a rainout, where the Mets swept the Padres and showed their fans that years of suffering were paying off thanks for the efforts of Dwight Gooden and Keith Hernandez. 

Indeed, I go back deeper into my annals for a doubleheader I didn't attend. When the Yankees hosted the Minnesota Twins one hot Father's Day in the non-refurbished Yankee Stadium for the first ever Bat Day. Despite my pleading, that one was denied to me via a festival of Dad's excuses. 

It was too hot to stand. 

It was too far to drive. 

It was too crowded to go. 

The hat trick. What made this even more devastating to me was that the fact that most of the other kids in my crowd went. All summer long, I was the only one playing baseball without a Tom Tresh bat.

You don't get these opportunities anymore. Whereas teams used to regularly schedule seven or eight of these Sunday doubleheaders every season along with the impromptu twi-night double dips precipitated by early season rainouts, we are denied now the chance to enjoy six or seven hours of baseball for one admission. Teams now don't want to give up single games of ticket, hot dog and beer sales for the sake of playing two games for one admission. And, now, you don't even get this via a rainout. 

Because, in these greediest of days, major league franchises have now discovered the wonderful financial gluttony of a day-night doubleheader. There's one game in the afternoon. Then the crowd files out, the stadium is allegedly cleaned, and then you have to buy a completely new ticket to see the game at night. Every franchise does this now. And it sucques.

Despite the double admissions, there are other financial benefits that teams enjoy as a result. A few years back, I was at the daytime first game of one of these travesties at Shea Stadium. I engaged an usher in a conversation and he also explained to me that state labor laws are constructed so that the employees do not get overtime on these days. So, essentially, they are working two games in one day, but getting less money than they would if they were attending to a traditional doubleheader. Another buck saved so we can pay that overrated fifth starter 10 million dollars a year.

Time passed and there is only an illusion of progress. We can gripe all we want, but nothing changes. I adapt my father's adage one more time.

"Too frustrated to complain."

Just don't look for a doubleheader on Labor Day.   

Dinner last night: The pre-game buffet at the Dodger Stadium Club.

Classic TV Commercial of the Month - September 2026

 I hated it.  Didn't you?

Dinner last night:  BLT sandwich at the Hollywood Bowl.

The Mugs of September 2026

 

 Yoda's brother?

 I have a dermalogist I can recommend.

 You can make the same appointment as well.

 Wait till your father gets home.

 It's a look.

 Somebody was wearing a wide brim hat at the beach.

 I wonder if you can buy chins at Amazon.

Hair dye should be applied equally.

 Earth to planet, Earth to planet.  Come in, planet.

 Badly in search of an 80s hair band.

 Man, woman, whatever?   Send your guesses in now.

I need the story on why he's wearing a sun dress.

Dinner last night: Hot dog at Holy Cow.

Morons of the Month - September 2026

 

The laughs never stop.

Now, as a little background, I learned about this group called "The Visibility Brigade" by watching from afar the antics of a former work colleague.   I actually wrote about her several months ago.  I used the name "Marisol."   I had become concerned because her social media showed me she had fallen down the rabbit hole.   A confirmed far-leftist, Marisol has gotten a case of Trump hatred that has overtaken every element of her life.

At the time, I wrote that I hope she was going to get help.   Indeed, it's gotten even worse.   To that point, I sincerely think she might physically harm somebody who didn't agree with her politically.   And, because she has gone deeper into darkness, I will occasionally look at her social media postings.

And that's how I became familiar with this group of which Marisol is a card carrying member.   They like to hang around overpasses like this to get their message out.

And what are those messages?   Welp, the federal government is evil.  The powers that be are particularly targeting women.   Their right to choose.  Their right to vote.  Their right to live.  

Most of their rantings are as crazy as you would find either on CNN or Fox.   But the anger is abundant and I have an idea of where it comes from.

Take a look at the gals prominently displayed on social media.   Older.  Single.  I would bet my last dollar that they all have cats.

But they are promoting the resistance because fascism is everywhere.   In their super markets.  In their closets.   Under their beds.  If only these loons would realize that there is plenty of corruption on both sides of the aisle.   

Indeed, none of these people have the foggiest idea what it's like to be persecuted against.   They're all mad and that's that.

At the end of the day, though, none of their lives are challenged negatively in any shape or form.   In fact, as I have noticed previously, Marisol goes on vacations to resorts a lot.   

How is this possible in such a fascist society?

Dinner last night:  Salad and sandwich.

This Date in History - September 2

 

Happy birthday to Chuck McCann.  He's the one in the middle.  Yep, the dead guy.

47 BC:  PHARAOH CLEOPATRA VII OF EGYPT DECLARES HER SON CO-RULER AS PTOLEMY XV CAESARION.

The earliest evidence of nepotism in history.

44 BC:  CICERO LAUNCHES THE FIRST OF HIS PHILIPPICS (ORATORICAL ATTACKS) ON MARK ANTONY.

Today Cicero would be hosting a host on MSNBC.

31 BC:  FINAL WAR OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC - THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM - FORCES OF OCTAVIAN DEFEAT TROOPS MARK ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.  

Actium?   Isn't that for constipation?

1666:  THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON BREAKS OUT AND BURNS FOR THREE DAYS, DESTROYING 10,000 BUILDINGS.

What's so great about that??

1752:  GREAT BRITAIN ADOPTS THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR, NEARLY TWO CENTURIES LATER THAN MOST OF WESTERN EUROPE.

So when are the holidays?

1789:  THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY IS FOUNDED.

I'll take tens and twenties, thank you.

1807:  THE ROYAL NAVY BOMBARDS COPENHAGEN WITH FIRE BOMBS AND ROCKETS TO PREVENT DENMARK FROM SURRENDERING ITS FLEET TO NAPOLEON.

Napoleon:  "So I'll take that as a no."

1850:  SPORTING GOODS BUSINESSMAN ALBERT SPALDING IS BORN.

Catch this.

1859:  A SOLAR SUPER STORM AFFECTS ELECTRICAL TELEGRAPH SERVICE.

Not working.  Stop.  

1864:  THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR - UNION FORCES ENTER ATLANTA AFTER THE CONFEDERATE DEFENDERS FLEE THE CITY.

But Scarlett will always have Tara.

1901:  VICE PRESIDENT OF THE US THEODORE ROOSEVELT UTTERS THE FAMOUS PHRASE "SPEAK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG STICK."

Later a slogan adopted by the porn industry.

1912:  ARTHUR ROSE ELDRED IS AWARDED THE FIRST EAGLE SCOUT AWARD OF THE BOY SCOUTS.

Must have known a lot of old ladies needed to get to the other side of the street.

1934:  ACTOR CHUCK MCCANN IS BORN.

One of the kiddie TV hosts of my childhood.

1935:  A HUGE LABOR DAY HURRICANE HITS THE FLORIDA KEYS, KILLING 423.  

Yet people still move to Florida.

1937:  BUSINESSMAN PETER UEBERROTH IS BORN.

I wonder if he started the cab company.

1945:  WORLD WAR II - THE SURRENDER OF JAPAN IS SIGNED AND ACCEPTED ABOARD THE BATTLESHIP USS MISSOURI IN TOKYO BAY.

Sayonara.

1948:  ASTRONAUT CHRISTA MCAULIFFE IS BORN.

An astronaut for...like...a minute and a half.

1951:  ACTOR MARK HARMON IS BORN.

Mr. Pam Dawber.

1963:  CBS EVENING NEWS BECOMES NETWORK TV'S FIRST HALF-HOUR WEEKNIGHT NEW BROADCAST, WHEN THE SHOW IS LENGTHENED FROM 15 MINUTES.

Nowadays, there's 15 minutes of commercials.

1969:  VIETNAMESE POLITICIAN HO CHI MINH DIES.

Happy trails.

1970:  NASA ANNOUNCES THE CANCELLATION OF TWO APOLLO MISSIONS TO THE MOON.

All your fault, Apollo 13.

1973:  POET J.R.R TOLKIEN DIES.

Reminder: I have yet to read or see any of the Lord of the Rings books or movies.

2001:  ACTOR TROY DONAHUE DIES.

Once married to Suzanne Pleshette and obviously no dummy.

2005:  ACTOR BOB DENVER DIES.

Really stuck on that island now.

2013:  THE NEW EASTERN SPAN OF THE SF-OAKLAND BAY BRIDGE OPENS TO TRAFFIC, THE WIDEST BRIDGE IN THE WORLD.

Until the next big one.

2024:  ACTOR JAMES DARREN DIES.

I wonder if the tombstone says "Moondoggie."

Dinner last night:   Sandwich.