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One Leg Up 7-15-24 - NYPost Sportswriter Mike Vaccaro Gives Vac's Whacks As We Hit MLB All Star Break 7-15-24 · OneLegUpAlex Sports

0:00
Here's your host, Alex S. Garrett. All right, well, I'm
0:04
Alex Garrett once again and on my network today is someone very special. You
0:08
know you might see in the newspapers as Vax Wax Mike Viccaro. Mike,
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we've been talking for a few weeks now about getting you on the show,
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and here we are. Thanks for joining me, GluN to be here a
0:20
let's go to talk to you. Well, we'll get to the commonality we
0:23
have in a little bit, but let's start off with the fact that last
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week you wrote in kind of frustration how the Mets and Yanks getting you know,
0:31
the way they lost last Friday was very frustrating. Lets get blown out
0:34
fourteen to two, and then of course they've been on a tear since then,
0:38
and the Yanks losing that game to Boston the way they did. You
0:42
were frustrated, and I could tell that in your tweet. But as a
0:45
sports reporter, you write that frustration, but you feel like you have to
0:49
have a sort of unbiasednes too as you write it. Well, look,
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I mean, I am am biased and I genuinely haven't lost sleep over the
0:56
outcome of the baseball game. The way fans do decades. But look,
1:00
I understand also two things. One, I know how fans feel because I
1:03
was a fan for many years. And two, look, I mean it's
1:07
it's it's it's it's better for business when these teams are doing well, because
1:11
more people want to read the stories, more people want to click on our
1:12
stories, when people want to buy the newspaper. I mean, you know,
1:15
there was kind of a semiotic relationship there, and you know, one
1:19
does lead to the other. And angry fans aren't fans. We generally like
1:22
to read things, and they certainly don't want to read you know, the
1:25
kind of the kind of nuanced things that I prefer to write as opposed to
1:27
just the hot take hammer, hammer, hammer all the time. So uh
1:32
yeah, when things are going bad for for any of our team, not
1:34
just the baseball teams, uh, it's it's a rough going. It's been
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a rough go around here for a lot of years because there's been a you
1:41
know, a real dirt of positive things to write about. You know what's
1:46
amazing is the last time I covered a parade was actually the twenty nineteen women's
1:49
soccer team, and that was just because they were they wanted, And today
1:53
all gave them that thing, but we're waiting for New York team. I
1:56
think the psychological uh stance of the fan base, so maybe you can react
2:00
to this is a roller coaster, right, Yeah, the Knicks that looked
2:02
like they were gonna shoot to the finals and then they got injured. And
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then you have the Rangers, who look very much on track for the Stanley
2:09
Cup faltering yea, at the same time we're boosting and they It's I haven't
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felt that kind of roller coaster in a while, have you, Mike covering
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this? That's what sports are, alex Is. You know, it's it's
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it's a it's a series of highs and a series of lows. And look,
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there's more when you're a fan, you know, unless you're a fan
2:27
of like the Patriots the last twenty years, there's far more lows than highs.
2:30
That's the way it is. I mean, you you know, you
2:34
learn about licking your wounds after bad losses and disappointing seasons a lot more often
2:38
than you do celebrate the good times. Uh that's been extreme in this case
2:43
in New York for the last ten years or so. But look, that's
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just what sports is. I mean, sports is you know, feeling incredible
2:50
looking for r Mets fan. I mean, you feel great about the way
2:52
the team's playing right now, and what in about nine hours if they lose
2:55
to the Rockies tonight, you're gonna think that the sky is falling. And
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conversely, you know, as terrible as it feels a Yankees fan because they've
3:01
been scuffling for three weeks. You know, if Garrett cole for was a
3:06
four hitter and you know it's a it's five of the Yankees and Baltimore tonight
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and suddenly get a game closer to the Orioles, Yankees fans feel a lot
3:13
better about themselves. That's just the that's the nature of sports. Baseball's you
3:16
know, really extreme that way, because I think a lot of times now,
3:21
especially lately, we look at baseball the same way. We look the
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same lens we look through a football What's dangerous because you know there's sixteen seventeen
3:29
football games now and so you can obsess over them for a day or two.
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You do the same thing with a baseball game and drive yourself nuts.
3:39
Yeah, And I tell you what, the Mets have found a thing with
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this. Oh my god, anthem, what are your thoughts on that real
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fast is you know, I've actually got in touch with the artists who made
3:49
the signs now that they carry in the dugout. Pretty cool guy, But
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what's your thoughts. It seems like the city rides these waves, don't they
3:55
all the time? Look, I mean, you know it's it's before your
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time. But nineteen ninety nine and anthem for the Mets was was was a
4:03
door song, Jim Morrison talking about mister Mojo rising and Eli Woman and you
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know that's uh oh no, that was I was there for almost every game
4:12
of Chance that year. I remember beaming, and especially in the ninth inning
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when they were about to close the game out right exactly. And so it's
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so like and you know, you get the same you get the same thing
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with the Yankees back in two thousand and nine with Empire state of Mind.
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I mean, you know a lot of times when teams are going well,
4:28
there's a song that can serve as their anthem. And you know, for
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the U for the Knicks for years, there was that old going New York
4:33
Go, New York Go, which they've kind of revived. I mean,
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there was a real marriage between sports and music, and I think you know,
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when you have a song and it and a hot team, it's a
4:44
natural marriage. Yeah, that twenty five years ago was special with the Yanks
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and the fact, I mean you can go down memory lane, and I
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know you do that a lot on the Carrosh You know your column in the
5:00
Post, So tell us about your love of history when writing about the games.
5:03
Yeah, you know, I grew up a huge, huge sports fan.
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I grew up a huge fan of reading about sports. And you know,
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my father really instilled in me an appreciation for for you know, why
5:15
we got here, in the history of sports and the history of everything really,
5:17
but specifically sports, and so you know, I really think I bring
5:20
a lot of that to my to my writing. I mean, it so
5:24
happens that I'm living in the place where I grew up after spending some time
5:27
out of out of town early in my twenties in early thirties. But you
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know, it's it's it's helpful because the teams that I write about now are
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teams that I'm familiar with, not just the teams I rooted for, but
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teams I understood because if you know, if I wasn't necessarily a huge Yankees
5:42
fan, I certainly appreciated the Yankees because I knew what they meant and I
5:46
knew, you know, my friends who are Yankees fans and my my relatives
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include to my father who are Yankees fans, that that you know what they
5:53
were. You know, in my house, you know, we didn't root
5:56
for, we didn't root against any of the New York teams. My father
5:58
rooted, you know, told me the best thing to do is root for
6:00
New York. It didn't really matter who it was. I mean, I
6:03
suppose if the push came to show, if he would have rooted for the
6:05
Yankees over the Mets. But in those years and youn't have to worry about
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that, and he was not with with all sports, and I think that
6:13
was unwinning but great training to become a sports columns in the city because unlike
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you know, I think talk radio you know, allows its participants, and
6:23
certainly podcast allows participants to take sides, to be fans to you know,
6:29
to concentrate on one side of the divides and the sports. I think in
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my job, I really have to be conversing on all of them, and
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you know, do my best to not to not show whatever my colors were,
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you know, it's at one time in my life. And you know,
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one of the things that I uses a gauge if I'm doing something right
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is if I cover a Subway series and after when I get twenty people accusing
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me of being a Mets omer and twenty people accusing me of being a Yankees
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homer, and I know I've done my job. That's usually what happens,
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all right. I asked you this away from the sports scene right now.
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Athletes that you've interviewed that you got a kick out of that you want to
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interview again, and and ones that haven't interviewed yet that you like to.
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Yeah. Look, I think the best one, and I think anybody who's
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covered him, and it's so surprised when he's when he when you see his
7:15
work on TV, is David Cohen. He's a guy who wanted to be
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a sports writer when he was a kid. I don't know, it's usually
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the other way around. Most kids grew up want to be a baseball player,
7:26
and they and they grew up and you know, become sports writers.
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In his case, he was reversed. He wanted to be a sports writer
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as a kid, grew up to be a baseball player, and then obviously
7:32
a terrific television personality. But you know, whenever you would talk to him,
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it wasn't just that he was available and accessible and accountable, but it
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was also you know, just just you know, terrific company, terrific conversation.
7:45
Mike Messina was like that once he got to know you, uh,
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you know, he he he would he would once he trusted you. I
7:50
mean, he would talk about any number of subjects with you. You know,
7:54
most of them haven't to do with pitching, but other other other things.
7:57
Also, it's a Stanford guy, you know, who's who's conversing on
8:00
a lot of things. So you know, I start there. I always
8:03
enjoyed talking to Patrick Viewing when he was a player. I got to know
8:07
him very well, talked to him many times, and when he was coaching
8:09
Georgetown. Never left a conversation with Patrick where I didn't feel like I was
8:15
better off of having had that conversation. Guys, I haven't talked to you
8:20
know, look at me. Here's the thing is that I think you are
8:22
so different now, and I think so many athletes are trained from an early
8:24
age to be bland and not show your personality until leging your career, you
8:30
know, when it's time to think about the next step, and a lot
8:31
of times that next step is broadcasting. So I can't say that there's a
8:35
lot of modern athletes who I haven't talked to who I'd like to. I
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suppose I wouldn't mind spending you know, twenty minutes interviewing Caitlin Clark, just
8:43
because I think it's fascinating how dominant a personality she's becoming her sport, you
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know, both the first half of the year when she was dominating in Iowa
8:52
and now seeing what she's doing as rookney the WNBA. I think that if
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I could get her and to to to kind of let her hair down a
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little bit and talk about things on the level with me as a sports writer,
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that would be fun. But I mean, again, she's somebody who
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has grown up in a time when the golden rule was don't say anything beyond
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what you have to say, and so i'd be you know, i'd be
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a little dubious as to whether she would actually say anything that was I would
9:18
find terribly interesting in the context of the conversation. But I do think she
9:22
comes across as bright, smart, articulate, and I think She's probably got
9:26
a lot of opinions on a lot of different things that if possible, I'd
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love to be you know, I'd love to have a conversation with her similar
9:31
to the ones I used to have with con and Messina back in the day.
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You know, you mentioned Caitlin Clark grew fast your thoughts on the way
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she's been treated because this has become a sports headline, right, So the
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way she's been rough around on the court's been a sports headline. Have you
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been writing about that at all over the last few months. Yeah, Look,
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I honestly I have no problem with it. That's what rookies happens,
9:50
having the rookies all sports, you know, And look, I mean I've
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you know, I've come to a place where I try, I fully believe
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it. The best way that we can uh give women's sports equal treatment is
10:05
to cover them equally and to treat them equally. And look, rookies have
10:07
been hazed both by their own teammates and certainly in the league for years.
10:13
I mean talked to Michael Jordan about what it was like his rook the year
10:15
when he was getting pounded and when when when when? When? The jealousies
10:18
around him were just unbelievable. That's part of the growing process. And guess
10:22
what, when Jordan was in the league four or five years, he did
10:24
the same exact thing for to Ballyhood rookies. So to mean that that part
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of the stuff, I mean, I have zero problem. I mean to
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me, I think that's that's is part of the coming of age. And
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look to her credit. You know, she started to come around and was
10:39
really playing very similar to the kind of level she was playing in college.
10:43
And I think that that that says a lot both to her ability but also
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to her character. You know, I can't get caught up in the idea
10:50
of whether she was on the Olympic team off the old team. Look,
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you know the you know, athletes get cut in sports teams from the time
10:56
they're twelve years old, and it's been happening since the beginning of time.
10:58
And you know, if I'm going to get upset about somebody, you know,
11:03
about athletes being loft at Olympic basketball teams, I'm going to start with
11:05
about seven or eight columns on Jalen Brunson not being on the Olympic team,
11:09
even before he hurt his hand, and before I ever get to Kaitlin Clark.
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I mean, you look like us a limp bit basketball team and wins
11:15
all their games like forty points. They don't need her. Whether she should
11:18
be on it as some kind of pr marketing tool, you know, my
11:22
question is is that what the with what the Olympic teams is for? You
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know, I wouldn't have been upset if she was on the team. I'm
11:28
not as such that she's not on the team. Honestly. I mean that
11:31
that particular party that I'm pretty agnostic about, but I mean to me,
11:35
I mean, I think that she's been very impressive in the way she's handled
11:37
things. All the attention and look, I mean even her even her harshest
11:41
critics and skeptics. All they have to do is look around these arenas and
11:45
see how many people are in them. Trust that with what they looked like
11:48
a year ago, and there's your answer about what kind of impact she's had.
11:52
And then you go just to the grassroots level, which to me was
11:54
always impressive. In college. It was her understanding that she was responsible for
11:58
a great generation of girls, girls who want to become Keitland Clark, and
12:03
that's going to manifest itself four or five, six, ten years down the
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road with all these players who you know, have watched for every move the
12:11
same way as a past generation of boys did the same thing with with Pistol
12:16
Pete or with Julius Servians, with Michael Jordan or anybody any of the great
12:20
players. So I think that's going to be, ultimately what her greatest contribution
12:24
to the sport is going to be, and in some ways already has been.
12:28
You mentioned Pistol Pete, the whole controversy, did she actually get the
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record that she didn't? I know, it's a time sprain thing, right,
12:35
Like so people ever didn't have the three pointer like Kaitlyn Clark did.
12:39
But what do you think of the comparing contrast? Was that? Was that
12:43
a fair comparing contrast and contact? There's a good reason why I'm fifty seven
12:46
years old and I still make my living as a newspaper columnist and not on
12:50
talk radio. And I've never truly tried my hand in podcasting very you know,
12:56
I just don't have hot take opinions on everything that comes up in sports.
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I just don't, you know. And the whole I mean, the
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whole Pistol Pep versus Caitlin clarking to me, you know, it was silly
13:07
because to me, I just say they were both generational players. Enjoy them.
13:11
Who cares who is better? You can't answer who was better one,
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you know, one guy played in nineteen seventy and the other and one moment
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played in twenty twenty four. Should we start going through how different the world
13:22
was, then forget about basketball and forget about the fact that you're talking about
13:26
you know, it's it's it's to me, it's just and I understand.
13:30
Look, I mean there are some people who find it fascinating and more power
13:33
to them. But like I said, that's kind of the reason why I
13:35
would have a hard time pulling four hours of talk radio. And I've always
13:37
known that about myself. You know, it doesn't bother me who the backup
13:41
tight end for the giants'es. I mean, let me say how he plays
13:45
and they'll make a comment. And if that's you know, that probably would
13:48
have made me a lousy talk show So I'm probably smart too avoided that career
13:52
path. But you know, I think, you know, it's just like
13:54
I, as I tell people, you know, yeah, look, I
13:58
do a lot of ripping my Kyle my rip guys, and I took them
14:01
to task and I criticize them, and you know, that's not the fun
14:03
part of my job. I come to every day thinking I'm going to write
14:07
about something good and I'm gonna see something I've never seen before. Want to
14:11
praise somebody because they've did something that is pretty cool, And sometimes you don't.
14:15
Sometimes you gotta drip the manager. Sometimes you got to fire the manager.
14:18
Sometimes you gotta trade the right fielder in your column, and and that's
14:22
that's okay, But I think, you know, there's got to be a
14:24
balance to it. And frankly, I just don't think you can afford to
14:26
be balanced and talk radio and think you're gonna have a job thirteen weeks from
14:31
now, because it's just it's about the the cycling and recycling of hot takes
14:35
and opinions. And I appreciate that there's a market for it. I'm just
14:39
not very good at it all right, Mike, Speaking of firings firings,
14:43
do you feel like the media of New York really can influence what a team
14:48
does? I mean, do you feel like if all of the post colleges
14:50
included yourself, called the firing of Aaron Boone that's gonna happen or is that
14:54
just sort of like wishful thinking? I mean, not that you have so
14:58
to speak, but in in general, when you when the media calls on
15:01
the firing of someone, is that influential on the team. I think it
15:05
only is in the when when when the time comes that a team also happens
15:09
to feel that. I mean, I don't think someone's gonna read by column
15:11
saying it's time to move off Maren Boon, which I haven't written yet,
15:15
by the way, but I'm saying if I did, I'm not saying that
15:16
Brian Cashman Hel Steinberg is gonna read that and say, well, Riccaro said
15:20
this, we got to move I mean, I think there was a time
15:22
when that was the case. You used to have very influential writers in this
15:24
town. Jimmy cann and Dick Young, and a lot of times they you
15:30
know, they've built the agenda. I mean, I think sports has become
15:33
a lot more complex and a lot more intellectualized through the years, and said
15:37
they don't they don't use that as a croutch. But look, I think
15:41
there are certain times like I mean, there was I mean the one time
15:43
when I went to when When When I when when people wanted to give me
15:45
credit for making stuff happen. It was back in twenty fifteen. I wrote
15:48
a really heavy column criticizing Sandy Alderson before he made the moves that actually delivered
15:54
the Mets of the World Series. And I just crushed him for not doing
15:56
anything and letting the team die on the vibe. And I mean if I
16:02
probably got more reaction to that column than any of it were written, because
16:06
you know, instantaneously, I mean both talk radio stations are reading it on
16:10
the on the air when I was driving home, stuff like that. And
16:14
you know what actually happened is not long after that, sandyel Earlsen basically made
16:18
five trains that won them the pennant. Now did you do that? Because
16:21
I said, so, you're a fregating cesspis in right, then that's your
16:25
that's you're doing right. Well, that's the thing that that that's the timeframe
16:27
I'm talking about. Now. Do I think that he went out and got
16:30
joy Cesspenis because I said that he had to make some movie? Of course,
16:33
not clearly. I mean Sandy Owns has been you know, has forgotten
16:37
more baseball than i'll ever know. I mean, that was always already in
16:38
his mind. He's trying to make the right moves, just can't you know
16:41
he's he's working in his own speed. So it's just so happened. The
16:45
timing seems that Bill Vakara ripped him, and all of a sudden, here
16:48
comes Cessperus and here comes you know, all these other players, and you
16:52
know, of course I don't. I don't believe I had anything to do
16:55
with that, but I do think that I do think, well, my
16:57
job is more than trying to influence, is trying to capture what the zeitgeist
17:02
is and what the thinking is behind them and making the decisions. So I'm
17:06
not wildly saying, well, you know, they mention do everything in their
17:07
power to get the player X. You know when I don't have, you
17:12
know, an idea if they have any remote interesting player X or because especially
17:18
in today's day, I guarantee you However, many critics David Sterns and Brian
17:21
Cashman have any of the other gms and sports, you know, they're they're
17:25
they're Their decisions might always that always work out, but they're always informed decisions.
17:29
These guys spend hour upon hour doing due diligence to see what will be
17:33
the best fits in clubhouses and lineups and so forth. So I mean,
17:37
I think it's my job to have an idea of what these guys are thinking,
17:41
so that if I do have an opinion, that's going to be informed
17:44
of. I mean, to me an uninformed opinion is the most useless thing
17:48
in the world, and not just for a newspaper balance. I mean,
17:51
if you just spout an opinions, no one's gonna pay attention to you after
17:52
a while, if none doesn't make any sense or you're going anywhere. All
17:56
right, Well, that's funny you said that because you mentioned player X.
17:59
So that's go to X right now. And I feel like the New York
18:02
street sports talk, which we u see here every day on the streets of
18:03
New York right the nineties early two thousands has transferred literally to online. And
18:10
I find it hilarious when people lose their minds after a player doesn't do well.
18:14
My joke is if Twitter was around in ninety seven, after Mario A
18:18
blew that save against Cleveland and blew that game, Twitter would have asked them
18:22
to be traded, right. So it's amazing how quickly Twitter loses his mind.
18:26
And as a journalist, do you follow that stuff and just laugh at
18:30
the humor of what X has brought us? I do laugh at it.
18:36
I only I generally only used X to use it as a vehicle putting out
18:41
my column. Occasionally I'll add something else who reference to one of the things
18:44
I tweeted that wasn't a column earlier. I do look at me. I
18:48
do think it's valuable. I don't think it's it's a scientific consensus by any
18:52
stretch. Most people aren't on Twitter, so therefore it can't be a scientific,
18:56
yeah, judgment of what people are thinking. And even though most of
19:00
the people who are on Twitter or X don't, you know, opine that
19:04
much, it's a small percentage of people who do. But it does give
19:07
you an idea of what's way the wind is blokeing, So in that sense,
19:11
it's you know, it's helpful. Look, I mean, I always
19:14
go back to the fact that you know. In nineteen twenty six, Babe
19:17
Ruth ended the World Series by trying to steal second. Think about that per
19:21
second he was on first Yankees are down to run Game seven. Yankee Stadium
19:25
place is probably going nuts. He tries to steal second he's thrown out.
19:27
Game over. Oh by the way, Luke Garrittant is to play gets thrown
19:30
out. I justose Twitter would react or X would react to you know,
19:36
forget Babe Ruth. How about if you know, if if if you know
19:42
Ben Rice did that you now, yeah, in not in games over of
19:45
the World series, but tying in Baltimore. I mean, the thing would
19:48
melt down. I mean, so I think you have to take that part
19:51
of it in perspective and with a great as salt and understanding that you know,
19:56
it is what it is, but you know it's also very disposable.
20:00
And you know, one of my favorite X handles is coal takes exposed or
20:04
freezing coal takes exposed. Yeah, because you know what I mean, nobody
20:10
likes it. And I've been on there a couple of times. You know,
20:12
but good, you know you should be accountable to me. Look,
20:15
I was every one of these people who said, well, the world needs
20:18
a newspaper columnist because you can't have these people blogging in their basements being authoritative.
20:23
I was always I always called bs on that it's it's me. I
20:27
always thought bloggers were incredibly valuable because these are people who'd actually do what they
20:33
do and almost never get paid for it. They're just doing it because they
20:34
happen to have a great deal of interest in the subject. That wants to
20:38
write seven thousand words about the glories are born to run and do it for
20:41
free. God bless. I'll read it, probably, and I think it's
20:45
valuable, and I think so. I was never one of the people who
20:47
dismissed it, but I will say, but I think the difference between what
20:49
I do and what people who just throw their opinions on xit me. And
20:53
I'm not saying they don't have the right to do it, but I need
20:56
to answer for those opinions. You know, when I'm wrong, I'll say
21:00
I'm wrong when I'm wrong and someone wants to post it. You know a
21:03
column I wrote seven years ago which came out to be dead wrong, happy,
21:07
happy to say I was wrong. You know that's part of it.
21:11
You're not always gonna be right. And if you and he be come across,
21:14
I mean, you know, sadly, because he was so great for
21:15
so many years. I think one of the reasons why Francis it became a
21:18
little difficult to listen to his last few years of the fan is that he
21:22
was never wrong or even though he was wrong a lot, but you know,
21:26
probably no more little than anybody. But it became expanded because he never
21:29
conceived that he was ever wrong. I think how many hort perasons that he
21:33
predict that actually didn't happen, right, I mean, it felt like that
21:34
was the big thing. Well, I'll be honest, Alex. One of
21:37
my proudest columns that I've ever written, right, And I I mean,
21:41
and look, I was. I was proud of the moment in two thousand
21:45
and six, to be I was. I was the first guy who fired
21:48
Tom Coughlin. Uh after after after that season collapsed, and and I mean
21:52
I crushed him as if he had to go, could they could back bring
21:55
him back? And within a week every column was in town was doing it.
21:59
But I knew my ardhearts. I was the guy who fired Tom Coffin,
22:02
and I thought that was gonna be proud. Of course, they didn't
22:03
get fired. Next year they win the Super Bowl. Now the even winning
22:07
the Super Bowl, I quoted liberally from the column that I wrote saying that
22:10
he should be fired, and I wrote, basically make up I was wrong.
22:14
I'm happy to wrong. No, And I remember a couple people say,
22:18
you can't ever do that. How can you admit when you're Michael,
22:19
if people want to take my opinion seriously, and if I'm allowed to to
22:23
to to to to think that I know what I'm talking about, and I've
22:26
also got a cup to when I'm wrong and be public about it and be
22:30
you know, accountable for it, own it, you know, And that's
22:33
a that's that's all part of the game, I think, and an important
22:37
part of it. Mike, I gotta ask you this because I feel like
22:42
journalists are now rushing to get the story. Who else but John Hayman.
22:48
Now you probably know John and know he's a great guy. But that Arson
22:52
Judge tweet is still tweeted out and talked about. Did you feel bad for
22:55
him when that happened? Did you feel like this is a warning to all
22:57
journalists before they make a tweet like that. I mean, you know,
23:03
the fact that John, who's you know, had one of the most storied
23:07
baseball writing careers of anybody of his generation. You know, it's still you
23:14
know, teased about that, you know, whatever, He's got to get
23:15
such of humor, so I know he takes it well, he's not he
23:18
doesn't obsessed about it. There are guys that I know in this business who
23:21
would go go off the handle every time they saw that. Yeah, I
23:25
mean like, I mean, that's that, That's just that, that's a
23:26
byproduct. Look, you know, I've tried to counsel people. One of
23:33
the reason why I try and just keep my putting my my my exit development
23:36
to just like my columns, because I'll stand by that. You know,
23:38
earlier in my usage of that medium, on that platform, I wrote a
23:45
couple of things and you know, one time a player confronted me on it
23:48
and he was he was wrong, he was stupid about it, and you
23:51
tried to was find trying to play tough guy with me. But it did
23:53
make it did It did make me realize that, you know what I could
23:56
pay to do this. So if I'm going to take this shot a guy,
24:02
I'm gonna do it in my column because that's that's what I get paid
24:04
to do. So if I'm gonna, if I'm gonna, if I'm gonna
24:07
take a shot out of guy because it's funny, you know, and it's
24:10
easy to do it on Twitter as a waste because I don't get paid for
24:15
that. I get paid my column, and you know, then the next
24:18
day I'll post it on X and you can read it there. But I
24:23
learned to listen that way, and I've tried to teach that lesson forward to
24:27
anybody who you know, wonders about about how much they should be on or
24:32
not on specific Mike, that's very interesting talking about being paid to do it
24:36
right. So I'm sure that many who read the column it looks like you
24:41
have fun doing it right, So do you feel like you're at a job
24:44
or are you doing something fun and you get paid to do it both?
24:47
Look, I mean it's you know, it was probably time early in my
24:49
career when I tell you I do it you're free, and I wouldn't do
24:53
it for free. I mean I would look to me at this point,
24:56
you know, if I retire and then you know, I can go back
24:59
to take care about sports and the way I do when I was a fan,
25:02
and then I want to write some musics to myself and my friends.
25:04
That's different. But look, my general I take it seriously is my career.
25:07
I take that very seriously. I'm thirty five years into it. You
25:11
know, probably closer to the fourth quarter than the first. And that's fine.
25:15
And you know, I still got a mortgage to pay, and I
25:17
still got bills to pay, and that's my job, so I you know,
25:21
I'm aware of that every day. But Mike, I got to ask
25:26
you this. There were there were two There are two things, uh,
25:30
two people I want to talk about because obviously you probably work interview both of
25:34
them. I got to know them. Obviously. Willie Mays. We just
25:37
lost a couple of weeks ago, and then tomorrow, believe it not,
25:41
as the anniversary of George Steberner is passing. So I want to know your
25:45
take on first Willie Mays, any great experience with him or conversation you've got
25:48
to have with him, and then the boss George Steinberner. Yeah. I
25:52
just talked to Willie and dugouts mostly occasionally. Was able to get him on
25:56
the side. You know, he was depending on the mood. But if
26:00
you got him in a good mood, you're going to enjoy the five minutes
26:04
or the twenty minutes or the forty five minutes you had with him, because
26:07
he was full of stories. He enjoyed being Willie Mays. You know,
26:11
He enjoyed everything about William being Willie Mace. He enjoyed the fact that it
26:15
allowed him to play baseball for many years. He enjoyed him allowed him to
26:18
have a life in baseball for many years after he stopped playing. And I
26:22
really thoroughly enjoyed talking him stein Reinner, I did talk a lot. Look,
26:26
I mean, I'm happy to mention here on this another show that I'm
26:30
writing a book about the Stime Winner years since the entire Yankee time since they
26:37
were sold for the first time in sixty five. To CEVS been on obviously
26:41
has a lot of George Steinbrenner in there, so I'm kind of knee deep
26:42
in the research of that. And you know, well, I was one
26:45
of his I was one of the people he got to a mentor because he
26:49
actually had me in his sweet when I was eight years old up until the
26:53
age of eighteen. So if you ever need insight, let me know.
26:56
I'd love to certainly will you and I can talk separately about that. Look,
27:00
I mean, they were they're He's one of the most complicated figures in
27:03
the history of sports. I mean, there's you know, a thousand things
27:06
that he did that make a cringe. And there were a thousand things he
27:08
did they make you say wow. And you know, it's kind of why
27:11
I've done to win any on on his h Hall of Fame candidacy. And
27:15
I used to I used to be pretty hard line and said, as a
27:18
man is thrown out of baseball twice, how do you possibly put him in
27:22
the Hall of Fame? And you know, on further review, But one,
27:26
I'm not minimizing the two things they got up thrown out of baseball,
27:29
but neither of those things were violations of the spirit of the game. I
27:33
mean, certainly had the first one, which had to do with Watergate.
27:37
Second one, I mean you could argue, is that a great thing to
27:40
blackmail your best player, which is essentially what he did, And but that
27:45
didn't you know that that that that that never wound up for a resulting in
27:48
in Winfield being traded prematurely or anything. So you can't say it necessarily directly
27:52
impacted the baseball And then when you just consider the fact just the impact he
27:56
had on on on on the and I'm not saying that it wouldn't have gone
28:02
in this direction without him, but him and Gene Autry and Ray crock were
28:04
the three guys who had been free agency came aboard, understood the possibilities,
28:11
you know, And it's specific to to to Steinbanner. He was in the
28:15
same market as the Mets, and the Mets in those years were owned or
28:18
run by a chief skate named m Donald Grant to ultimately wind up let him
28:22
join the time seaver Go and the contrast between the way those two teams took
28:27
the free agency, one with open arms, one just didn't want any part
28:32
of it. And so you saw what happened in the immediate aftermath of that,
28:37
and look at his you know, George ultimately made a lot of missteps
28:40
in free agency also, so you have to take the bad with the good.
28:44
But you know, I think the Hall of Fame is designed for the
28:47
most impactful people in the history of the sport. And if you're going by
28:51
that definition, I don't know how you can have a Hall of Fame without
28:53
his plaque in there. Well, that is that is so true, and
28:57
you know every year I've been pushing for that. I know the family has
29:00
as well. H I was knowing the family a little bit. I was
29:06
a little disappointed when they all bowed hell. I know it's New York and
29:08
everything, but yes, it was old timers. I last year. I
29:12
don't know if you were there for that or not, but they all bowed
29:15
him, and I'm just like, you know, he's up on him and
29:18
we're not an ease uptown though, that's for sure, right. Well,
29:22
Look, I mean, How's How's How's personality is different than his father's.
29:26
Sometimes it's a point of frustration for fans who you know, are used to
29:32
Every time the Yankees lost two games in a row, there was George Raising
29:34
in the in the papers at somebody. Hell's never gonna do that. That's
29:38
just not who he is, and he'd be he'd be. It would be
29:42
detrimental if he if he ran the Yankees other than the way he thinks the
29:45
Yankees should be wrong that said, Look, I mean I take issue with
29:53
people who I don't take it. Sue anybody who boos anybody to reach your
29:56
money, you can do whatever. H The lunacy that people think that Hell
30:02
doesn't care about winning is comical. The idea that his being loyal, his
30:11
defaulting on the side of loyalty is some kind of character flaw, is laughable
30:17
because these same people thirty years ago were embarrassed by the fact that George Steinberger
30:22
once had twenty four managers in twenty three years. So you know, you
30:26
can't have everything. The fact of the matter is the Yankees have been awfully
30:30
good for an awfully long time. They've been awfully good in the era of
30:36
hell Steinbanner. They've knocked out in the World Series since then. It's also
30:40
a lot different game now we have an extra ount of playoffs. You know,
30:42
there's far more financial repercussions for those who spend. There's far more available
30:48
funds for those who wish to try and spend here and there. The ideas
30:51
of sports are different. I think we know now that you're gonna get more
30:53
most of the production out of players before they reach for agency than you will
30:57
after it. In almost every case. A lot of that is are things
31:00
that George never had to worry about. How wants to win. Of course
31:03
he wants. Look at how much money they've laid out. I mean,
31:07
it's absurd for people who tell me he doesn't want to win. And I
31:11
feel the same way about both both Cashman and and to a lesser degree Poond.
31:15
You know, I'm not saying that they should all be appoint in their
31:17
jobs for life. Not if you're not doing well, then think the change's
31:21
have to be made. In the ultimate boss's case, it means making the
31:23
change, and the underling's case, it means maybe having to be a victim
31:26
of a change. But the notion that they don't care is just it's preposterous
31:32
to me. And you know, even how I mean that, the times
31:36
I've talked to Hall, I mean, obviously he wants to Obviously he wants
31:37
he wants to win a championship. It does own right, you know.
31:41
I mean, it's but it's a different world, you know, in the
31:42
same way. You know, it's funny it came across a code to my
31:45
research where George when he first bought the team said, no team's ever gonna
31:48
win five champions in a row the way the Yankees in the forties and fifties,
31:51
because it's a different game, and they came as close to that particular
31:53
thing as he could. But yeah, I guarantee you right now, the
31:57
same people in baseball, unless there's an extraordinary circumstance, you're not going to
32:01
get a team like the Yankees from ninety six two thousand, just now the
32:05
game hasn't built that way, and so you know, to me, I
32:08
think it's just it's it's, it's it's it's just like I said, preposterous
32:13
to think that Hell doesn't want to win, Mike. I don't understand,
32:17
though. I don't understand how people on Twitter can say, well, Ben
32:21
Aaron Judge and it's only April and I know you've written about Judge extensively,
32:24
So have you gotten to know him? And what's it what's it like being
32:29
around the captain Aaron Judge. Well, he's larger than life. I mean,
32:32
he's you know, he's he's easy, He's very much in the school
32:36
Derek Jeter. He's accountable, he owns things, stands up after every game,
32:40
talks. You know, he's a captain, you know in every sense
32:43
of the word. He's got a presence about him, which is, you
32:45
know, undeniable. But look, you know you're talking about the guys people
32:51
on that. I don't have a problem with fans like they can do what
32:52
they want to meet. To me, that the nameless, faceless people on
32:55
Twitter who want to rip athletes the same thing as people who boom I almost.
33:00
I think it's more it's it's more I don't know, I don't know
33:02
what the word is. I mean, i'd grabee somebody actually write an English
33:06
sentence that's criticizing somebody as opposed to going into a stadium and shouting boo at
33:09
the top of their law. So look, you're allowed to You're allowed.
33:13
You're still allowed to say what you want in this country within reason. And
33:16
you know, look at it. I've been getting buried with emails from people,
33:21
you know, the last week now, ripping Judge again, just after
33:24
his stretch fifty games where he was playing as well as anybody's ever played the
33:29
sport. So that's what fans do. Though fans aren't always gonna be happy,
33:31
and they're entitled. They weren't happening. That's how they want to feel
33:35
if they want to be you know, they want to have their lives affected
33:37
by how poorly their team is playing. That's their choice. And you know,
33:42
they it's their time and their money. They could do with it what
33:44
they want. Mike, I got to ask you this while I still have
33:47
you here. Why though the downs That's the thing I'm trying to figure out,
33:51
is it seems like when they waste the bases loaded in Boston that that
33:54
Sunday night everything changed. How does that? How has that been happening only
33:59
this year but other years? And did you ever think we'd actually miss John
34:01
Carlo Stanton as a city right now? I mean, this is a big
34:06
loss here. We're thinking about baseball, Alex is that it's more inexplicable to
34:09
me than any of the sport. Right the guy can hit three fifty one
34:13
year and next you know, I mean Jeff McNeil, you know, explain
34:16
Jeff McNeil to me and maybe you'll give me a little more insight into baseball.
34:20
I mean, I mean, you know, he win wins a batting
34:22
title for all of baseball two years ago, and now you know he can't
34:28
he can't get the ball out of the infield. It's it's it's the strangest
34:30
sport ever. You know. You know, Jason Taya might have an off
34:34
year next year and he's still gonna average twenty five points nine rebounds and the
34:38
Celtics are gonna be fine, even though you're gonna say, you know,
34:40
he didn't play as well as years last year. Baseball just exposed has the
34:45
opportunity to expose you in so many ways. And sometimes that comes within the
34:47
same season. I mean, you know, staying with the Mets, I
34:51
mean, look what Francisco in the door and Brandon Nimmo were doing in April.
34:53
These guys are both under two hundred and it looked like they hadn't played
34:55
baseball before, and now they're both raging high. And the same thing with
35:00
Judge. I mean you look at where he wasn't eightful, he looked like
35:02
he was playing with his feet and now you know, saved the last week.
35:07
I mean, he's back to being the Aaron Judge that that we that
35:12
that we saw two years ago. It's it's it's a very strange sport to
35:15
explain. And I think in the same way you do that with individual players,
35:20
you do it with teams. I mean it's why Look, I mean,
35:22
I think more than any other sport, I mean, if you have
35:24
if you have if you have good players who like each other, a good
35:29
manager who's smart, and good chemistry, those teams are gonna win, you
35:36
know, over the teams who might be slightly more talented but have dysfunction.
35:39
Now I'm not saying that if you have a team of all stars, they're
35:42
gonna they can't all either, that's it's obviously helpful to have more talent.
35:45
I'm not saying that that doesn't matter, but I just think baseball is so
35:49
it's so fickle, day to day, week to week, month to month,
35:52
season to season. And I think that you see there the Yankees and
35:55
three years in a row. Now they look practically unbeatable in June and by
36:00
July August you start wondering if these guys ever played the game before. It
36:05
doesn't make any sense. But I mean, honestly, there's a lot of
36:08
baseball and watching it since I was five years old. That still doesn't make
36:12
sense to me. And I'm still gonna keep trying. Mike, I gotta
36:15
ask you this. It is we just passed thirty that anniversary of the Rangers
36:19
winning the Cup. This is how versaily you are. You can talk about
36:22
all different sports here from the thirty years. You know that alumni team of
36:28
Messier and Graves and Richter. Did you ever get a chance to catch up
36:30
with all those guys? And of course I got to ask about Gretzky,
36:34
who retired twenty five years ago this year. That's right, all those guys,
36:37
I mean, they got to know Adam Graves pretty well. I've spent
36:39
some time with a lot of long conversation with him, was he was a
36:42
good dude. Mark Messier I've talked to a couple of times that I mean,
36:45
you know, I'm making some booze on here, but I mean that
36:49
the team I really got to know personally, probably more than any other in
36:51
my career, were the Devils of ninety nine two thousand. I was working
36:55
in Newark at the time. I heard a lot of columns about them when
36:59
they won the Cup and thinety nine, and then when they went to Game
37:00
seven in two thousand. The roster of guys on there that I've talked to
37:05
and gotten to know a little bit is that was the most enjoyable I ever
37:09
spent around athletes, because they were all terrific talkers better they were better conversationalists.
37:19
I'm told by people who know, like Larry Brooks, who was around
37:22
all of these hockey players going back years and years, that those ninety four
37:25
Rangers were similar to the Devils. He knows how I feel about those Devil's
37:30
teams, and he said the ninety four Rangers teams were very much like that,
37:32
and so were the Dynasty Islanders teams in the early eighties, you know,
37:36
filled with guys and you didn't just want to watch play hockey. I
37:39
wanted to talk about hockey with and just kind of wanted to be around because
37:43
they were They were just generally interesting and good nature's people. So people I
37:49
trust say that those those Rangers teams to talk about were exactly like that.
37:52
And I would agree with little I've been around Messia, how much I know
37:58
Graves and little more, I would say for sure. And look, I
38:01
mean Gretzky was always a fairly approachable star, so I mean, I think
38:06
that's the best way to describe him. Oh yeah, yeah, not to
38:09
Greg, but he had me in the dressing room in ninety nine because I
38:12
got to do the garden security. So he's a great guy. Great guy.
38:16
You mentioned Larry Brooks, right, and you have a lot of great
38:19
colleagues at the Post. You're home now, but was there a time and
38:22
do you miss the time where y'all were in that newsroom in the Post headquarters?
38:27
I mean, do you miss that atmosphere That's never really been the case
38:30
for sports writers, Alex. To be honest with you, we're always at
38:31
a ballpark we're always at a an arena, always on the road. I
38:36
mean, that's where stuff happens, honestly. I mean, if any of
38:39
the writers wanted to go to the post for any of the last twenty five
38:42
years, we have no place to sit because it all desk for us.
38:45
You know, earlier in my career, I spent a lot of time,
38:47
you know, probably the first ten years of my car has spent a lot
38:49
of time in newsrooms, working in a newsroom, and I like, I
38:53
love that. I mean it was I love, but you had to be
38:57
because of the time. I was doing a lot of round up ups in
39:00
high school coverage stuff, and you had to do that from the office.
39:04
I love the camaraderie I love, you know, I love the back and
39:06
forth on deadline. That was great. I don't miss that as much because
39:09
you know, I'd rather be I'd rather be where the action is happening.
39:13
You know, I really haven't worked inside a newsroom on a regular basis probably
39:15
since nineteen ninety eight. It's quite a while ago now, And uh yeah,
39:21
that's just that's just the rhythm. So there are there are guys in
39:23
newspapers, you know, who go their entire careers and never meet each other,
39:27
because that there's very little reason for the hockey rider and the football writer
39:30
they ever meet each other. And that happens a lot in a lot of
39:31
these newspapers. One hundred year of the Giants being of football, and I'm
39:36
excited for that. I was at the one hundred year event, very exciting
39:38
atmosphere. Now you and now I think everybody's going to be watching this team
39:43
because they're making a big give out one hundredth season. Can they do something
39:46
here? Obviously they lose a kwan, But what's your take, Vax Wax,
39:51
Mike McCarroll. I think this is the rebuilding season everybody's been expecting coming
39:54
along. Was pushed off two years ago because they won more games than they
39:59
were expected to. I think we all could agree that was probably a quirk
40:01
of scheduling and good fortune. Last year I think was more of aggression to
40:06
mean. But I even throw out last year because it's hard to make any
40:07
evaluations because you're playing with second and third string quarterbacks most of the year.
40:13
I think, but I do think, Look, they're gonna they're gonna miss
40:15
Sakwan and look, I think Joe Shane especially we've seen the first two episodes
40:19
of Hard Knox. I think I have reason to put your faith in this
40:22
guy. He seems he seems like he knows what he's doing, but there's
40:24
just so much damage he has to he has to, you know, overcome
40:30
and make right. And for an organization that's kind of been in the tail
40:34
spend for the ten years before they got here again, I don't think they
40:37
were necessarily helped along by that field good playoff season two years ago because I
40:40
think it maybe stalls and things they wanted to do. But now they're fully
40:45
into it. Now. I don't think they're gonna be one and sixteen.
40:47
Uh, but you know, I think that I think seven eight wins is
40:51
a reasonable goal. I think staying maybe in the playoff FU until early December
40:54
is a reasonable goal. I think that they just don't have enough horses yet
40:58
they'll get them. I mean, I think that's part of it. Football
41:01
is the one sport I think that you know, you can still be committed
41:04
to a two and a three year plan because you got to do things like
41:07
work with the salary cap and get new talent in and get the old you
41:10
get the dead stuff out. So I think they'll be. I think they'll
41:13
be funked. I mean in the next two three years. I just think
41:15
it's gonna be rough year. This year, and I know, as a
41:17
sports reporter, you love having to cover Aaron Rodgers. He gives you,
41:22
you know, content almost every day. It feels like, right, So
41:24
what's that like? Been covering him since he came to the Jets. I'll
41:28
say this way, if I covered the Jets every day, I guess I'd
41:30
like having around because you know, he's always A. He's always a plan
41:34
B. If he's not already also the plan A. Look. I mean,
41:37
I've seen balloted people come in and come out. I saw attend to
41:38
Tim Tibaware, I saw the Wayne Gretzky era. I see that. I've
41:43
seen a million of these guys come in. I'm unaffected by it. I
41:46
mean, you know I'm gonna haven't. I've written about four plays of him
41:51
so far, so it's you know, I don't. I don't have any
41:53
kind of history to draw upon. You know, If he plays great,
41:58
I love writing about. If he plays lousy, I'll be more than happy
42:00
to write about that, even though fear people will read about it. I
42:06
just kind of want to, you know, watch him play football again.
42:08
I don't. I personally don't care what he says about anything. And it's
42:13
not because it's the controversy or anything. I mean, I generally it wasn't
42:15
engaged in in actual conversations with somebody. I don't. I don't care about
42:20
their opinions about Mars and Martians and anything. I just don't care. I
42:23
know that doesn't make me feel any less about them, and it doesn't make
42:25
me feel any worse about them. I just I don't care, and so
42:30
I just rather just you know, I'll be more than happy to write about
42:35
him regularly if he makes it worth Mike Wilder because he's playing well or playing
42:37
poorly, that Jets are winning or losing. You know, that's what I
42:40
want to write about, all right. Well, one of my one of
42:44
our one of my friends and colleagues who helps me do the show every week,
42:49
lou Turminello, actually brought this to my attention that I researched it.
42:52
This is also an adaptability podcast, because you've had to adapt to something that
42:57
makes you have one leg fun sports. See, it's all synchronistic here,
43:01
Mike, and I know you've gone public with it. But yeah, share
43:06
your story with me about how you have one leg and you had an amputation
43:10
and then you're back on the golf course. Tell us your story a little
43:14
bit. Yeah, happy to do that, Alex. Look, I I
43:17
play. I played basketball most of my life. Sprained my ankle, both
43:22
ankles, probably thirty forty times. You know, in my day, there
43:23
was those of thing as going to rehab or going to you know, physical
43:27
therapy or anything. You know, you just there's mice on it, and
43:31
probably played earlier than you shop because you wanted to play, and that helped
43:35
wreaking it. Over time, I developed type two diabetes, which you know
43:38
makes your feet vulnerable. That didn't help. And then about two years ago
43:44
I started to get sun suceptible to infections and that's ultimately what caused my ankle
43:49
to develop a condition called charco, which basically along the short is that your
43:54
ankle disappears, your your bone disintegrates, your ligatings go away, you know,
43:59
and it can be reverse. He catched it early enough, but they
44:01
but but but that didn't happen with me. Basically, I had I had,
44:05
I had no ankle on my left foot, and you know, I
44:08
tried scraping around on on very heavy walking boots. It was not comfortable,
44:15
and ultimately my pedietari just put it in my mind that this might be somebody
44:17
that I wanted to do down the road. And then that decision was made
44:21
for you because I got a really bad infection in that leg August twenty twenty
44:24
two, so I had it removed in August twenty two. The next day,
44:30
my doctor said, you know what what what's what's what's what's your one
44:32
goal? What do you want to what do you want to focus on your
44:36
recovery? I said, I like to play. I like to play golf
44:37
a game. He said, I didn't. I probably do that by the
44:38
let's say, next June. And sure enough, after you know, spending
44:43
a lot of time with some wonderful people at Kessler Rehabilitation Center, I uh
44:49
in North Jersey, I uh, you know a year later, Uh,
44:52
in June, I went out and I shot and I played nine holes,
44:57
maybe took twenty shots, and it was pretty glorious. And uh and look
45:00
I'm up and around now. I'm able to pretty much have my life back
45:04
to where it was, probably in a better spot than it was the last
45:07
couple of years before the amputation. I love talking about it to people who
45:12
are maybe in the position where they might have to consider it. I'm very
45:15
open to talking to people who just are curious about it, are fascinated by
45:20
it. Certainly, you know, I'm interested in our discussion here because,
45:24
you know, because you've been able to have to succeed and prosper, uh
45:30
with with with the challenges you were given. So it's look, I mean,
45:35
it's I mean, I don't want to speak for you, but I
45:37
guess if you ask me yes or no, would you like to have two
45:39
legs? I probably answered yes because it's just you know, it's it's it's
45:44
uh, I don't know, I just would. But you know, I've
45:47
I've also learned that, uh, this isn't so bad either. I can
45:51
I can get around, I can figure things out. You know. If
45:53
I'm not gonna ever run that ten K that I never was gonna run anyway,
45:58
I'll live with that. But I can play god off. I can
46:00
you walk into press boxes again. I can do you know again? On
46:02
my life back for the most part, well, you know, we gotta
46:06
we gotta link up at a game. Tell me what games you're going to
46:08
and I'd love to meet up because this would be great to talk with you
46:12
in person too, And I'll teach you to roll a blade. How about
46:15
that? That would be pretty cool. You mentioned prosthetics, by the way,
46:20
so tell us about that. Where you fitted for. The fitting process
46:22
is always kind of weird because I got to do the casting and all that
46:24
and everything. Tell us about the process for getting the prosthetic. Yeah,
46:28
I mean so right right there, towards the end of my first stay in
46:30
rehab, which was nineteen days long, they fit me for a temporary prosthetic,
46:37
which is what I was gonna learn to walk on, and I got
46:42
that about six weeks later. It was grossing a couple of first and I
46:45
couldn't take more than three steps at a time. At first. I feel
46:49
like I was gonna go over sideways. But you know, you adjust,
46:53
you learn after you first have your leg amputated, your leg they need,
46:58
they need your stump to shrink to be able to fit into a permanent prosthetic,
47:04
and that's what happened to happen to me. I was on the temporary
47:07
one for about nine ten months, and once the residual limb got to the
47:15
size, they figured it would be the standard size for the rest of my
47:19
life. I got finished for a permanent one. This one has kind of
47:22
an electronic ankle, so my gate's a little more natural. And yeah,
47:27
i've had that since an effect on Sunday. It'll be a year that I
47:30
have the happy anniversary, right, So, and you're back on the golf
47:36
course. I know that's a huge deal for you as well. It is.
47:39
Look, I mean, I wasn't that good to begin with. At
47:43
my peak when I was in my early forties, maybe I was a twelve
47:45
or thirteen. You know, by the time I was done, it was
47:49
probably a twenty. And now, of course, I don't care what handicaps.
47:52
I'm not going into the sand trap, I'm not going onto elevated greens.
47:54
I'm not going on the elevated t's. I'm just going to try it
47:57
at the ball and have a good day with my friends. I mean,
48:00
I don't care at my score as I just care that they keep the ball
48:02
in the air. And the fact of the matter is that you know,
48:05
in a lot of ways, believe or not. Now I want to hurt
48:07
the ball nearly as far as I used to do, but I hit it
48:08
straight as a pin. I know where it's going, and you know,
48:15
you know, every time I end up there, I can can knock the
48:16
ball forward one hundred and forty hundred and sixty yards till they take the clubs
48:22
out of my hands. All right, Well, we're gonna know the sports
48:25
note here because obviously it's the All Star Break coming up? What do you
48:29
want to see from these two teams coming out of the break and at the
48:34
deadline are do you have hopes and dreams for these two teams to make moves?
48:37
What would you do? Look, I think what the Yankees need and
48:43
I think this would probably you know, make their fans feel little better about
48:46
the way things are. There's just so many mental mistakes that seem to plague
48:50
this team. Lack of hustle, lack of really high baseball IQ. I
48:54
mean, I'm not sure you can initially leave a magic wand or you know,
48:59
maybe just on straight more. I don't I don't have the answers for
49:01
that, but I think that's kind of what you would like to see coming
49:04
out of the All Star Break, is a more focused team as doing the
49:07
little things better than they're doing them now. And look, I just think
49:10
they know, they build themselves to a cushion. I mean, I don't
49:14
think they're gonna wind up eighty two and eighty. I don't think they're gonna
49:15
wind them out in the playoffs. But I think what they want to do
49:19
is they want to figure whatever it's ailing them out, and by the time
49:22
they hit hit September in October, they're playing their best baseball. I suppose
49:25
what happens a lot of times is you're kind of shaky going the playoffs than
49:29
the hot team, you know, like the Rangers last year and the Phillies
49:31
two years ago, just kind of takes the Mets. I want to see
49:35
what they do after the break, you know, in terms of the deadline,
49:37
I mean, you know, I do think that David Sturge wants to
49:40
see if it's possible to both be a buyer and a seller if you can,
49:45
you know, address areas of need like the bullpen by doing that with
49:49
like areas of strength, which right now looks like the starting rotation. Because
49:54
look, I think that after last year, whether or not all their deadline
50:00
moves were right or not, and think it's still open for debate, you
50:07
know, I think what really stung the ownership was the belief that they didn't
50:13
care enough to try, and I realized that probably seems silly, but the
50:17
fact is, in baseball now, there's no percentage there's before, there's very
50:22
little percentage in not trying. Because like you look at the Phillies last couple
50:25
of years, they were they were out of it early in the season.
50:29
They squeaking the playoffs both years, and both the years. One year they
50:31
went up in the World Series, two wins Awa from the championship. Last
50:35
year, by rights, they probably should have been the World Series again.
50:38
And you know they did that because they just knew when to get hot.
50:44
And I mean, if if the Mets are as we as you and I
50:45
are talking, they're in playoff position as you and I are talking, the
50:49
Anchors were still in player position, still within shouting range the Ools. I
50:53
mean, as a sportswriter, nothing I would like better than having both those
50:57
teams, you know, being the hunt in late September. To be wonderful,
51:00
they could moost be in the playoffs. It's happened so infrequently in the
51:04
year since nineteen sixty two. But whatever it does, it's a great thing
51:06
for the city. You know, I'd love for October to not only be
51:09
about the decinal giants. October, you know, by right, your six
51:14
teams except for eighteen. October is the month when all nine of our teams
51:17
play, So would be wonderful, right. And there are sometimes where all
51:21
the teams win, and that had that's a rarity, but sometimes that happens
51:23
on a Sunday. So true. And I can't let you go without asking
51:29
this because you've you've probably talked with them extensively at the Europe columns on it.
51:35
Docin and Daryl getting their numbers retired. I mean, do you like
51:37
what the Mets are doing retiring these these guys who maybe it was a long
51:42
time coming for them to get their name and numbers and the rafters what do
51:45
you think? Well, it was really long time coming for Jerry Cruzman and
51:47
Keith her Nandez. And I know that was in fairness, the wolf Ponds
51:52
had already proved the Keith Nandez one before they gave up the team. But
52:00
I think was I think Steve Cohen, who is a Mets fan, who's
52:01
been a Mets fan since the start, and I think rightfully said, you
52:06
know, it's time we start embracing the history around here, because you know,
52:08
the Mets might have the history the Yankees do, but they absolutely have
52:13
a history and it's and it's a very important and rich one and we're going
52:16
to celebrate it. And you know, along those lines, now, Bernandez
52:21
and and Kusman run the wall, Daryl and Doc run the wall. I'm
52:25
pretty sure that David Wright's probably gonn on the wall soon and then we'll see
52:29
what happens thereafter. But I think he's rectified that. I think it's I
52:32
think it's it's really important to him that that that the Mets acknowledge who they
52:38
are, who they've been, where they've come from, what they've done.
52:42
And you know, tim it's not maybe as important as what they're doing now,
52:44
what they're gonna do next year, next year, the next two years,
52:46
next ten years. But I think it's important to him, and I
52:50
think that has really you know, that's one connection he's gonna have with the
52:53
fans, and I think that's one thing you can't He's one owner that's gonna
52:58
be hard to say, Well, he doesn't really care. He cares.
53:00
You know, if you could have known who cares. Doesn't mean that it
53:04
seems you to know, no one cares about anything in any realm of life
53:08
more than John Merrick cares about the giants, right. He literally is in
53:13
physical pain when they lose. He kills garbage cans, right he Just no
53:19
one cares more than that. Man. That doesn't mean that that just by
53:22
caring doesn't mean they're not going to be you know, four and twelve a
53:24
lot. And so you know, if it burns my bacant and people say,
53:30
well, Marin doesn't keep nod on them, there, you're unbelievably off
53:34
course. And the fact is, look, owners care because it's their money,
53:37
it's there, it's it's it's their team. Of course they can.
53:39
But so I mean, you know, for of course we're harkening back to
53:43
our think about about hell Steinloer. But yeah, I'm firstly, I'm very
53:47
happy that the Mets. And look, I mean I think I think if
53:52
if it stays where it is for a while and eventually they add number five,
53:55
I think I'm fine with that for a long time. I'm not sure
53:59
if there are any other number. You can certainly make an argument for the
54:01
maybe the shared retirement, Gary Carr and YOUO Gibert you're probably making an argument
54:06
for Jose Reyes, although I wouldn't necessarily support that all John Franco maybe yeah,
54:09
I mean, but but but again, there's I think there needs to
54:12
be a difference between Hall of Fame, club hall of famers and numbers retired.
54:15
You know, I think sometimes the Yankees, you know, I would
54:20
argue whether Ron Gidry deserves that a number one ten, that kind of thing.
54:23
But I'm also I'm also I'm expea as a Hall of Fame for i
54:28
err on the side of inclusion. So I'd rather be wrong and put the
54:30
number on the wall than be wrong and keep the number off the it soul,
54:35
I mean, be right and keep the number off the IT. So
54:37
I mean, you know, maybe why not. You know, I'll certainly,
54:40
I'll certainly happily to take up the debate for John Franklo if his names
54:44
are in the you have U the docket. Well, Mike, this has
54:49
been such a special conversation and I'd love to come back with you as we
54:52
hit that September mark right and see where we're at. And I'll be following
54:55
backswax in the papers as well, and I hope our listeners do too,
55:00
sounds good Alex really good talking to. Hope to see at the ballpark soon