Rant #3,956: King Nothing

I never talk about football in this Rant.

I don't like the sport, don't like what it has become, and it means nothing to me.

Then this latest controversy came up, and it has nothing to do with athletics ...

More about politics than anything else.

Jaxson Dart, the young and talented New York Giants quarterback, made an appearance with President Donald Trump at a rally, introducing him to a crowd the other day--

And one of Dart's teammates became just so horrified at what Dart had done, and let him know about it through social media, where the story spiraled into a national headline.

A teammate of Dart's, Abdul Carter, took great horror at Dart doing this, and posted his feelings on social media, stating that he "thought it was AI," and used some other filthy words to describe what he felt.

They subsequently met, and I believe it was all ironed out, but that really isn't the story here.

The story is that this is not what sports is all about.

Sports brings together people from all different backgrounds, all different ethnic groups and all different beliefs, and puts them together, where nothing else is supposed to matter but what goes on on the field.

Dart is allowed to have whatever political leanings he wants to have, as does Carter, but Carter's inappropriate reaction to what Dart did really was bewildering.

Is Carter saying that he can't play with Dart anymore because he is a Trump supporter?

What does that have to do with what the Giants do on the field ...

And yes, the Giants are one of the NFL's worst teams, so don't you think Carter should be on the same sports page as Dart, as Dart is the team's starting quarterback?

What does politics have to do with anything?

Well, this story, of course, spiraled into a major firestorm of controversy, and yes, it wound up on Facebook.

I recently was friended by someone from my old neighborhood in Rochdale Village, someone I kind of knew way back when.

Well, he jumped into this controversy, and as a liberal, of course, he took the side of Carter in this mess--

To which I pretty much replied in the way I did here, where sports should have nothing to do with politics.

He then put up a message that is probably the most heinous, most racist thing I have ever read on Facebook ... and I have read plenty.

He replied to the extent that since the NFL is a predominately black league, with most players being African-American, for Dart to do what he did was a slap in the face to most of the players in the league.

I could not believe that he said that, and let him know how racist what he said actually was.

I said that with that thinking, why should any Jew bother to criticize anti-Semites here, there and everywhere, since we make up such a small percentage of the population both here and worldwide.

Just go with it because we aren't the majority ... just go with the flow.

I guess I took this "friend" by surprise with my response, and he eventually said that maybe now was the time to unfriend me due to having the audacity to disagree with him--

Which, of course, led me to tell him that he could do what he wanted, but evidently, he shields himself from any opinion other than his own by having "friends" that agree with him on hating Trump, who he called some vicious names on Facebook, none of which, in my estimation, are true, and I told him so.

I am no MAGA supporter of the president, did not vote for him in the last election, but he attacked Trump viciously and unnecessarily, in my estimation.

I also told him that I welcome views from all sides of the ledger, which as you know, I do.

You are probably wondering why I am not putting up the exact quotes from him and me, but he has since either blocked me or taken down the post, which is fine with me--

But then his bluster came to Facebook messenger, and here is where you are going to read some exact quotes.

"You are a bit of a coward, aren't you you?" I wrote. 

I had sent him my story in Newsday as an example of what sports is really all about.

"Did you read my story? Can't take that someone has the audacity to disagree with you? And by the way, I did not vote for Trump. [By blocking me] you are one less fool for me to deal with, and put in their place."

His reply:

"No, life is too short to deal with a-holes."

He used the full term, but since this is a family blog, I won't use it, and it gets worse.

I replied, "Oh, because I had the nerve to disagree with you, you call me that word? Demonstrates that you cannot take the heat, and act infantile when someone disagrees with you. 

"Funny, I have friends of all backgrounds, ultra-liberal to ultra-conservative and everything in between. We agree to disagree on some things, but we remain friends ... and I don't mean Facebook friends, I mean real friends.

"Your behavior is ridiculous. Did you bother to read my story [which I posted to him]. That is the true essence of sports, and politics has nothing to do with it.

"And you speak about being a racist; re-read what you said about Dart not doing what he did because the NFL is a predominately black league. That is a racist thought, my friend. And you call Trump racist? Takes one to know one, I guess.

"You can't come up with something better than I am absolutely an a-hole? God gave you a brain; it is time you used it."

My 'friend" then put up two memes--both the exact same thing, stating, "You are nuts."

I replied, "That is the best you can do, using a meme twice to speak for you? You can do better than that. Like you tried to say, if I am nuts, at least I am not a racist and not delusional. I fear that you are both.

His next volley: F-off! [Yes, he used the full F word.]

My reply, "I expected so much more of you. Notice, I used no filthy language to address you, but you did in addressing me. How sad you are."

"Stop bothering me," he replied, and evidently, he turned on something called "disappearing messages," which allows messages to vanish 24 hours "after everyone has seen them."

My reply: "Don't make me laugh! You asked to be bothered by your idiotic responses here, rather than talking it out like an adult. Speak to you later, friend."

I guess he went to sleep, but I heard from him bright and early Sunday morning.

"You're not my friend, and I definitely won't speak to [sic] crazy person here."

My retort was, "No loss on my end, friend. So I am "crazy" because I disagree with you, and you simply are unable to have an adult conversation about it. See you, friend."

And that was that.

Yes, I could have dropped it early on, but this guy just went on and on, he knew I painted him into a corner, and he comes back with vulgarity.

Typical phony political imbecile, and I would say that if he was on the other side too.

To attack me because I had the absolute nerve to disagree with him ...

Goodness, how did we grow up in the same place at the same time?

Maybe I am able to process differing viewpoints a little better because I am a writer, but I am not that smarter than anyone else--

Or maybe I am.

Rant #3,955: What's Going On

I simply cannot win.

I cannot stand up for falling down.

I brought in my car on Monday to get an oil change and have an inspection.

The inspection went fine, but a monkey wrench was thrown into the oil change.

They could not get my car's front hood open.

Try as they could, the thing would not pop open, so the oil change could not be done.

They told me to take the car to a body shop, and have them look at it.

Totally disgruntled and defeated, with everything bad happening to me, I took the car to the local body shop that I used when I was in a car accident several months ago--

I originally figured that it somehow had to do with that accident, but whatever the case, they are local, do good work, so that is where I took the car to.

I explained the problem to them, they looked at the car thenselves, couldn't open up the hood, either, and took it right into the shop.

What they think happened is that unbeknownst to me, the car might have been hit from the back while parked, and propelled into a cement block that are at the front of many parking spaces.

Who knows when it happened, but they found cement pieces in my bumper, where the wiring for the hood opener is--so they think that that is what happened 

They fixed the car for free, I gave the mechanic a tip, and I was told that once repaired, this thing will probably break again sometime in the future 

Well, I can't worry about that now, so I brought the car back to get the oil change.

I am going to tell you, there is a black cloud over me that just won't go away 

In fact, when I first brought the car in on Monday, they had my appointment for the wrong day!

A bad omen ...

I just cant win. 

And then, when the car had its oil change and was ready to roll, the person at the desk never told me that it was done--

I was so bored that I got up to look out the window, and there it was, just sitting there.

I asked the attendant why she didn't tell me that it was done, and she said she was dealing with another customer.

Yup!

Later in the day, I received an invitation in the mail for my daughter's wedding, and there was a card that I had to return, stating that we would be there, myself, my wife and our son.

I got a pen to fill in the card, and as I put pen to paper, this pen--which I have used dozens of times without incident--literally fell apart in my hands, so broken that it will never be used again.

Nothing is going right for me, and this has been an ongoing problem for me for months, if not for years.

Hopefully, when I have my latest operation on Monday, they don't tell me the wrong time to be in the hospital and they don't have trouble opening my own "hood."

I am trying to be funny about this, but I just can't.

Rant #3,954: Ups and Downs

I went from being on the highest of highs to plummeting to the lowest of lows, and all of this happened in just a scant few hours. 

On Friday, I woke up to find that a story I had written for the local Newsday newspaper--the one linking my bar mitzvah with the New York Knicks' very first championship in 1970--was printed, and what made it even more fun is that they decided to use one of my bar mitzvah pictures--

Featuring myself and my sister.

It was just so much fun to see the story and the photo in the newspaper--

It made getting up from sleep early that morning all that more sweeter.

I had to wake up early that day, because I had to go to the doctor to check up on how my latest surgery went--

Did it do what it was supposed to do?

Well, I found out loud and clear when I got there and was seen by a doctor.

The catscan I had taken 10 or so days after the most recent procedure showed that what was there was evidently still there or replaced by something else--

And I have to go for another surgery to get it taken care of.

What's worse, at this moment as I am writing this, I have absolutely no idea when the surgery will take place.

I have the date, Monday, June 8--which I found out late on Friday afternoon--but I have absolutely no idea about the time.

The doctor's office said they would get back to me on this, but it leaves me in total limbo.

And if you remember what I told you several weeks ago about the initial surgery, this office originally gave me the completely wrong time for the surgery, and I had to find out for myself when I should be at the hospital and would be operated on--

Which is not standard procedure, and yes, I complained about it, and was told that while my doctor is top-notch, his office staff is anything but.

A nurse in the hospital even told me that.

And now that I have pretty much caught up with my bills, I have another bill that I just paid, and it leaves me in the lurch once again, not on the long side, but on the short side, if you know what I mean.

So I went from total euphoria to total dismay, and it did not take long for this downward metamorphosis to happen.

So here I am, in nowhere land again, not knowing anything, and I just hope they tell me sooner rather than later when this thing is going to take place.

I am supposed to be alerted to the time on the day before the surgery, late in the afternoon, but the day before the surgery is on a Sunday, so am I going to have to call the hospital myself again to find out information that I shouldn't have to be foraging about to find out?

I hope that this uncertainty isn't prolonged, and I hope that the hospital calls me this time--they didn't the last time, so they were just as culpable as the doctor's office was.

Goodness, back in 1970, when I was bar mitzvahed, I was sick right before the event took place, but heck, nothing like this.

I could not have imagined back then where I would be in 56 years' time, but here I am, and it isn't a good feeling to have.

I told my wife that I am going to look at it as a positive, because I was told that once I had this newest procedure, I would be over and done with this problem--

But I truly thought the first surgery would have done the trick, then the second, and now, I am on to the third surgery ...

Is there a real, true end in sight?

I just don't know, but again, if Willis Reed can limp onto the court all those years ago and do his thing and lead the Knicks to victory, then I know I can do the same thing with my own health--

I read that the Knicks' Mitchell Robinson has a broken pinky finger, and his appearance in the NBA finals is questionable, just like Reed's was all those years ago--

So I can go with that ...

Nah, it is simply not the same thing.

Rant #3,953: Written On the Wind

I am back at one of my doctors today, basically to see if the operation I had two weeks ago did what it was supposed to do.

I have a printout of my followup catscan, I think it looks OK, but since I am not a doctor, I don't know for sure--

I await what the doctor says, and hopefully, it will be all good news.

That will lead toward my goal, which is good health.

Since I had to be into the doctor's office for an early appointment, I am writing this particular Rant blindly, because I was forced to write it a bit earlier than normal due to this appointment.

On Thursday, I was told that I was going to have something printed in the local Newsday newspaper, and that it could actually run in the Friday edition--today's newspaper--but since I am writing this particular entry early, I have no idea whether it will wind up in that edition or maybe over the weekend or into next week.

It all relates to a scaled-back story that I sent them related to my oft-told true story about my bar mitzvah in 1970 and how it relates to the Knicks winning their first NBA championship the day before I read my haftorah.

I wrote about it here just a few Rants back, but since the Knicks are in the NBA championship round this year for the first time since 1999, I felt I should strike while the iron was hot, and put out something for the masses, not just those who read this blog.

It is a quite interesting story, all true, no filler, and I figured that people would enjoy reading about it.

I edited my thoughts quite a bit, sent it in, and lo and behold, Newsday called me back on it during Thursday afternoon.

They said they would re-edit the piece--they gave me a final look at the finished product, and I could make some minor changes if I saw it fit to do so--they asked for some bar mitzvah and current photos--

And VOILA!, I was told to look for the piece in the newspaper as early as today.

But since I am writing this Rant earlier than today, I have absolutely no idea if it went into today's newspaper or not.

Suffice it to say, when recalling the incident here at the Blog, you guys got the full story, which had to be edited for Newsday and was further edited by their staff.

Just so you know,  for the record, here is what I originally sent them, and again, they re-edited what I sent them--which is their right--for publication.

"The current success of the New York Knicks has brought me back to another time ...

Roughly 56 years ago, to my bar mitzvah.

I remember the whole thing like it was yesterday, and that period stands out to me as among the most important times of my life.

Leading up to my bar mitzvah on May 9, when I had my ceremony, I had had a really tough time. I was sick for about a week to 10 days prior to my bar mitzvah day, all from a case of nerves.

I had anywhere from a mild to a high fever, and I was as sick as could be.

I watched every minute of the NBA championship series between the Knicks and the Lakers that I could. It was difficult because in those days, games were blacked out in the home city, so our local ABC outlet didn't carry a lot of the games live, but on tape delay.

But I had a secret weapon--my TV picked up Channel 8 very well, from the ABC affiliate in Connecticut, and they carried the games live, so I was able to watch the games on that channel.

On May 8, I was really sick as a dog, and the pressure was on, because my bar mitzvah was on May 9.

There was no way out of this.

On the evening of May 8, I decided to watch the Knicks game, the biggest NBA game that the team ever played up to that point.

I turned on Channel 8, and the game changed my life.

Team Captain Willis Reed, who was injured earlier in the series, decided that nothing was going to stop him from taking the court in deciding Game 7.

The rest of the Knicks had come out for their shoot-around, as had the Lakers, but when Reed came out of the locker room apart and after his teammates, the Lakers were so stunned that they all stopped whatever they were doing and watched what was unfolding as the crowd cheered their hero, and they never really recovered.

Reed limped along on a bad leg, made his first two shots of the game, Walt Frazier had one of the greatest clutch games ever played by a Knick or any NBA player, and the Knicks won 113-99.

When I saw Reed limp out, I got goosebumps myself.

I thought to myself, if this guy can do what he is supposed to do on one leg, then what am I doing in the bed here as sick as I was--I can do it too!

When that game was over, I felt like a burden had been taken off my back.

I woke up on May 9, all ready to go. Sure, I still had a fever, but I felt like I could take on the world.

All told, I barely made it through the ceremony in our synagogue, and I nearly passed out toward the end. But I did it. And later in the day, I felt fine--100 percent fine, no fever, no nothing.

Those two days--May 8 and May 9--were certainly the most important days of my young life, and over 50 years later, still stand out as two of the most important days of my existence.

I see today's Knicks team, and it simply conjures up all of those memories from that time in my life.

I am older now, have some major ailments to address, but like it was in 1970, when Willis Reed limped onto the court, if they can do it in 2026, I can do it, too.

We are both out to win, and we are both going to do it."

If it is in the newspaper today, you can see how they edited it for publication, much like I edited it to send out to them. 

If it is not in the newspaper today, it will be, so I will keep you alerted when it finally gets in there.

As you know, I have been in Newsday dozens of times over the past more than 50 years, the last time being just a few months ago, as a letter I wrote about late night talk shows was reprinted as one of the top reader letters of the past year.

I have always loved seeing my name in print, and heck, being a writer and an editor has put food on my table for decades, from then to the current time.

So this is just another fun moment for me, seeing my thoughts in print in Newsday, pretty much the only game in town on Long Island for daily printed news, sports and entertainment items.

Bully for me, I guess.

With that all being said, have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday--

When my goal of good health extends to my car, as I have to bring it into the shop for an oil change and its yearly inspection.

Please keep me--and my car--in your thoughts.

(P.S.: My story is in today's Newsday, on page A21!)

Rant #3,952: Red Rubber Ball

When the New York Knicks are good, it truly galvanizes the region.

In the other sports, you have Yankees/Mets, Rangers/Islanders, and Giants/Jets.

But when you have the Knicks, you don't really have anybody else to split loyalties.

Yes, you have the Brooklyn Nets, but quite honestly, it was a huge mistake for Nets ownership to move the team to Brooklyn, where they are going to be overshadowed by the Knicks no matter how successful they might be.

And right now, they aren't successful at all, nothing but a last place, rebuilding team.

Nobody proclaims themselves a real Nets fan. 

Fans go to Barclays Center to see NBA basketball because the ticket prices are cheaper than at Madison Square Garden, and when the Knicks visit, it is like being at the Garden, anyway.

The Nets should have moved to ... I don't know ... maybe Kansas City, where they would have a solid fan base, but locating in Brooklyn, however nice the nostalgia was, was a great mistake.

So no divided loyalties here--

When the Knicks are good, nothing else matters.

Here is what I wrote on Facebook about what is going on with the NBA championship round-bound Knicks.

"As a Knicks fan since 1965, I am just so happy that this time they finally may have gotten through the curse that has been on this team since at least 1999, but probably since 1973, their last championship.

They pretty much bull-dozed through their opponents, and find themselves four wins away from the NBA championship.

But with all of that comes the realization that whoever their opponents are--the San Antonio or Oklahoma City--it won't be a cakewalk this time around.

These two teams are probably the two best teams in the NBA, top to bottom, unlike the teams the Knicks played to get here, who were good but very flawed teams.

That being said, I do believe this Knicks team has the potential to win it all--

And the great thing is that some of the greats of those two championship teams--including Walt Frazier and Bill Bradley--are still with us to take it all in.

With Willis Reed among those watching this team from the basketball courts in the sky, I do believe that this team is finally going to break that curse.

And you still have plenty of fans around like me--the real superfans of this team--who have gone through the ups and downs of this team, first as a child, then a teenager, then as adults, and now as veteran fans who have seen it all.

I wish I could be at Madison Square Garden to see it all, but that is another story for another time.

Whoever the Knicks play in the finals, I predict the Knicks in six."

My father took me to my first Knicks game in 1965.

It was part of the old NBA doubleheaders that the league used to have, and I think the Warriors--then known as the San Francisco Warriors--played the first game against the Philadelphia 76ers, and while we came in late to that game, that was technically my first NBA game.

Then the Knicks played the Los Angeles Lakers, the Knicks lost the game, but I was hooked.

I went to dozens of NBA--and ABA--games after that, with my dad and at other times with friends, and I have continued the tradition, as my son and I have also seen several games in person.

I still marvel at the talents of these athletes, even though it is through the lens of the TV, as I haven't been to a game in several years.

The prices are exorbitant, and it is simply out of my current price range.

But with the Knicks knocking on the door of the NBA championship, the so-called "City Game" is all anyone is talking about, and all anyone in this area seems to care about.

That is what sports is all about, taking us away from our daily worries.

That is the best thing about sports, it brings people together from divergent communities and beliefs and unites them in watching their team excel.

Quite frankly, the success that the Knicks have had galvanizes this area--New York City, Long Island, Westchester, and probably New Jersey too--to have one focus, and one focus only.

Sure, it is still a kid's game, but even at age 69, it is fun to watch--if I can stay up long enough to actually do that.

The team debuted in 1946, so it is 80 years old.

I am 69 years old--11 years younger than this franchise--so I have to tell myself that there is no reason that someone of my age can't stay up and watch a team that is older than I am compete in the championship round. 

Easier said than done, like going to the line and shooting a foul shot.

That is how the ball bounces ...

And I hope that it bounces the Knicks way when the championship round begins on June 3.

Rant #3,951: Get Back

Well, mission accomplished, at least for right now.

Yesterday, I got that KUB test done, and hopefully, it will come up clean.

It should not take that long to get the results back, and I am wishing for the best.

Nothing else is new on the horizon beyond that, but I do have a followup doctor's appointment on Friday morning, so I should be told where I stand on that morning.

I don't want to even think about the "I can't stand up for falling down" thing, so I hope my standing comes out good.

Then we--my doctors and I--can attack the obvious thing that is wrong with me, and really start me on the road to good heath.

Nothing much else is going on here, although it looks like the weather is, finally, getting better.

In my neck of the woods, the sun is out, the temperature is up, and the gloom and doom for the past few days is over.

But I have to take into consideration my son's work schedule.

Let me explain.

It seems that every time he works, he runs into horrid weather.

He worked the entire past weekend, and where we were, it rained, and rained and rained some more.

Just prior to that, when we actually reached 98 degrees on the thermometer, he also worked, and he needed constant gulps of water to keep going--

I even gave him a bottle of water when I came to pick him up, and he had to buy water at work to keep himself hydrated.

I mean, he works outside all day, you would think that they would give him water, but I guess not.

Anyway, that is the nature of his job, he enjoys it, so I can't really complain, not after all he went through to get this job.

Me, I just don't have the energy I once had.

Heck, on Monday night, I think I fell asleep at 9 p.m., so I missed the New York Knicks game, where they beat the Cavaliers and are going into the NBA championship series for the first time in 27 years--

And vying for their first NBA championship since 1973.

I was just too pooped.

I felt it the entire day, and it did not let up in the evening, it just knocked me out.

During all of these processes, procedures and surgeries, I have not been able to take any vitamins, because they are considered to be blood thinners, so I think I might be overly fatigued because I can't take these vitamins.

I go through spurts where I feel strong, and then I feel like I fell off a cliff.

I am hoping that once I can get my vitamins back in my system, I can get back to where I should be.

Thus, I am still not 100 percent, maybe 85 percent or so.

But hopefully, I am getting better.

I have too much on my plate to slow down, but my body is telling me that I am slowing down whether I like it or not.

So for now, all I can say is--

"Let's Go Knicks"--

And we will leave it at that.

Rant #3,950: She's Gone

Memorial Day was pretty good for myself and my family.

We had a slight change of plans.

I had planned on having a barbecue for myself, my wife and our son, but instead, we met up with family at my sister's house, which is always fun.

I will put off our first barbecue of the season for a week, so we will still have it, but just a little later than I had planned.

This week is a big week for me, health-wise.

I have to go for what is known as a KUB--kidney, ureter and bladder--scan today, which will ascertain whether my most recent operation did what it was supposed to do.

I sure hope it did.

And then on Friday, I have to go to the urologist for a post-operation checkup, where I will further learn whether the operation was a success and what my next move for good health in that area entails.

I really hate all of this, as it seems never-ending, but it is all part of the plan to get me back to where I should be.

The past three years or so have been horrid for me health-wise, and I just need to get back to some semblance of normalcy, because I have been in something of a holding pattern for quite a while now with all these operations and procedures hopefully pointing me in the right direction.

I heard a sad bit of news this past weekend.

My friend's mother passed away about a week or so ago.

She lived a long life--nearly to 100 years of age--but finally succumbed to what ailed her.

I was told that her last few years were very poor, but she somehow persevered, and nearly hit the century mark.

She was my mom's best friend, the wife of my father's best friend, my childhood best friend's mom, and I have so many memories of her, pretty much all good.

She was like my second mother during those early years, and her passing hit me a bit hard.

During those early years, if my mother did not know where I was, she certainly did--

Your community was your parent, and that community never let you get out of line or into too much trouble.

I just know that she is in a better place now, and I hope it brings piece to my old. life-long friend and his sister, who I know have struggled with their mom's care for the past several years.

I wish them all well.

So another, real part of my childhood is gone, but the good memories of this lady will be with me for the rest of my life.

I was looking for a photo of her, but for some reason, I cannot find my bar mitzvah album.

I know that there was one photo of her in that album, with all my parents' friends at the time--many of them life-long friends who they still got together with through their 80s and beyond.

I am sure it is here, but in our move, it is probably sitting in some box of books or other things that we do not have displayed.

It will turn up one day, but right now, I simply cannot find it.

But I don't really need actual photos to remember this lady--

She will live on in my memories forever.