Rant #2,007: Bits and Pieces

Hello again. How was your weekend?

I am going to start the week with some news bits that I didn't think deserved extensive coverage, but should be spoken about in shorter morsels.

Here they are.

Astros Beat Yankees and Get Into World Series: This was a very, very tough series, but you have to give kudos to the Houston Astros for beating the New York Yankees and advancing to the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"Home cooking" defined this series, with each team looking totally inept at their adversary's ball park.

And with the Astros having four games at their home park, and the Yankees three, well, that pretty much defined this series.

And as a Yankees' fan, I am severely disappointed, but looking at the team, I think it is safe to say that with a tweak here and there, this team will be back in the playoffs in the future.

Good luck to the Astros--who, by the way, I picked to win the American League pennant way back at the beginning of the season--who are going to need everything they have to beat the Dodgers, who are back on their game after going through a late season sleep.

And by the way, with the Astros representing the American League in the World Series, they become the first team in baseball history to represent both the American and National League in the World Series, having been the National League representative in 2005.

National Anthem Singer Takes Knee at Nets Home Opener: Well, I was there, I saw it, and I didn't like it.

Singer Justine Skye, who sang the National Anthem at the Brooklyn Nets' home opener on Friday night, decided to make the whole thing political by taking a knee as she sang the last line of the song, and people were not too happy about it.

As she warbled "And the home of the brave," she decided to take a knee, replicating the protests that have disrupted the NFL season, as players have taken a knee to protest what they believe to be racial injustice in this country.

The players have a right to do this, although the thrust of what they are doing is completely and totally misguided, and the same goes for Ms. Skye, who took it upon herself to put the focus of opening night on herself, and not on the game.

And take it from me, people were not too happy with her stance, or lack thereof.

There were boos and catcalls from the fans, including myself, and the local Channel 11 WPIX-TV, in reporting the incident, stated that most fans in the audience were upset at the singer's decision--and they got that spot on.

So upset were fans that the Nets put out a press release on the incident, distancing themselves from it all, stating that they had no idea that Skye was going to do this.

So what happened during the Nets' second home game yesterday afternoon?

The singer of the anthem for that game, whose name I admittedly don't know, gave a Black Power salute as she finished the song.

Here, she claimed that it was part of the emotion she was feeling as she sung the anthem, and it had nothing to do with anything else.

Please. This has go to stop. Not only is it completely misguided, it is taking the focus off the game and turning people off who pay good money to see these games.

Enough is enough.

(And by the way, the Nets--who stood for both playings of the anthem, as the NBA insists that they do, won both games, so perhaps they benefitted from the focus being off of them, which is fine for their record, but really isn't the way it is supposed to be.)

Delightful Weather in the Northeast: Yes, it is nearing the end of October if you want to believe the calendar, but the weather in my neck of the woods was over 70 degrees the past few days, making the weather about 20 degrees better than it actually should be during this time of year.

Sure, it is nice not to have to wear a jacket during this time of the year, but on the other hand, it is causing havoc with a lot of people's immune systems--have you seen more people with fall colds than you have seen this year?

Heck, my wife and I are just over whatever we had, upper respiratory episodes which cost her two days of work and me one day of work.

And yes, we both went into work sick, exposing our co-workers to what we had, but that is the nature of this beast, when personal heath and work collide.

Sometimes, you just cannot take off, and that was the case with us.

Now that we are pretty much over whatever we had, I guess we can enjoy the weather, but my allergies are beginning to act up, so there is no benefit to this weather for me.

Are we going to go from extended summer right into winter?

It appears to be so.

That is it for now. Speak to you tomorrow.