Joe T.’s trying to break the curse ThoseBenchWarmers have put on his Mets!
By Joe Torosian
“I’m not superstitious but I am a little stitious.”
—Michael Scott
Kick it!
Right off the Top: I’ve got nothing against Lynn Swann…But Lynn Swann? Didn’t he catch his last pass at USC 43 years ago? Didn’t he catch his last pass in the NFL 34 years ago?
I like Lynn Swann…but he’s hardly a millennial.
***
I let Riley Saxon (One of ThoseBenchWarmers‘ three tenors–Riley, Derek, and that other guy. Twitter: @warming_benches) wear my New York Mets hat on Saturday and my team stopped hitting. I saw him today and I begged him to renounce all things Mets and he wouldn’t…Just to hurt me.
Dirt bag won’t renounce his curse!
What kind of individual does something so small and petty? I guess when the J.V. tennis team your coaching goes 13-1 you start to feel like you’re better than everyone else.
Well, all I can say is at least the Mets didn’t lose to the Arizona Diamondbacks and their garage mechanic uniforms.
***
As everything and everyone, rightly so, is celebrating all things, Kobe…Can we remember the guy who got him to Los Angeles? The guy who got Shaq to Los Angeles? The guy who made sure James Worthy stayed in Los Angeles after the Lakers were offered both Mark Aguirre and Roy Tarpley for him?
Can we acknowledge the greatness of Jerry West, the General Manager?
***
The bounce, pounce, and crash you just heard is Andy VillaTheDevil landing on the Chicago Cubs bandwagon.
His sudden proclamation of “My Cubbies!” got me thinking about the Cubs this season and possible outcomes.
1.) They win the World Series and lose the “lovable losers” tag they’ve come to cherish.
2.) They don’t make the playoffs and the entire organization goes into counseling.
3.) They win and become the most despised team in baseball because everyone will be announcing themselves as “lifelong” Cubs fans (See VillaTheDevil)…Kind of like the spike in “lifelong” Los Angeles Rams fans…Fans who wouldn’t know the difference between Wendell Tucker and Wendell Tyler…Think Jack and Jim Youngblood are brothers…And will swear they or their grandfather was at Super Bowl III when Joe Namath led the Rams to victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
***
Joe Torosian’s high school football novel is available through Amazon.com
(Cover by Pat Cherry www.blackheartart.com)
So what I’m picking up from current Time Warner commercials is that if I switch from DirectTV to TW, I’ll get: Seats in the dugout and an opportunity to play on the field at Dodger Stadium.
If I can get that in writing…Seats in the dugout & opportunity to play on the field…I’ll make the switch.
However, something tells me trusting Time Warner is like trusting the weatherman when he says it’s going to rain this weekend or that there will be an apocalyptic heat wave in 2029.
***
Last Add Lakers: I was excoriated by a local football coach last week for mentioning another football coach in the same breath as Phil Jackson. I’m not arguing that Jackson isn’t a great coach. Someone has to know how to steer the wheel…But Jackson’s teams in Chicago were put together, largely, before he got there.
…And the trifecta the Lakers won with him was won a by a team put together by Jerry West.
For the exercise, I’d like to see what Jackson would have done with this current Lakers team. I’d like to see what he would have accomplished in Cleveland with the squad Byron Scott inherited after LeBron James left.
Someone has to steer the wheel and Jackson does that very well but it’s the machinery under the hood that makes the vehicle go.
***
What should happen on Survivor tonight: The girls should stick together, spread the word that they are going to vote out Jason…and then blindside Tai to get him and his immunity idol out of the game.
But then again, they never do what I say…Somehow, it’s like they can’t hear me and that everything’s already happened.
Midbits (same as ‘Tidbits’)
Midbits: “The greatest playoffs in all of sport begin! All hail Lord Stanley!”—Dennis Miller
Midbits: Got Chicago and St. Louis on DVR tonight. Oh, I’ve always been an NHL playoffs fan.
Midbits: The Los Angeles Angels have called up left-handed reliever Greg Mahle…He went 1-2-3 in his first inning against the Oakland A’s…and after getting a chance to see him this spring…He should be a real “Bad Dude” on the mound.
Midbits: Question…Do you hire somebody to coach/teach because they are the best qualified or because they fill an external slot (race/gender)? Like Greg Brady becoming the new Johnny Bravo because he fit the suit.
Midbits: On this date in 1861 the United States garrison at Fort Sumter, in South Carolina, surrendered after 33 hours of bombardment.
MLB GAMES JOE T. HAS WATCHED THIS SEASON (Minimum 5-innings)
New York Mets: 8
San Francisco Giants: 2
Los Angeles Angels: 1
Los Angeles Dodgers: 1
Quick Pitch (Watney/Ryan): 9
The Dude abides…
619
Psalm 112:1-2
Contact Joe at joe@midvalleysports.com
Author of “Tangent Dreams: A High School Football Novel” available through Amazon.com
Follow Joe on Twitter @joet13b
“Joe T.’s Scoreboard” is found at www.midvalleynews.com every Wednesday & in the hard copy of the Mid Valley News, published every Wednesday
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