WEST MARIN COUNTY, CA – I’m feeling reflective today, as I wake up on the Tamales Bay out in Cali one last time. I’m out here for a memorial for my grandmother, who passed away this Spring. I know she had a nice long life, passing at 98, but it’s still hard to know that she isn’t out here, holding down the fort. Meet The Matts lost one of its own this week too, as Big Al Sternberg passed away. Being the rook on the staff, I didn’t know Al but the tragedy of his abrupt departure still hurts. My heart goes out to his family. It’s debilitating when you get caught up in the fact that we’re all just steamrolling towards death. Or as Pearl Jam put it:
WEST MARIN COUNTY, CA – I’m feeling reflective today, as I wake up on the Tamales Bay out in Cali one last time. I’m out here for a memorial for my grandmother, who passed away this Spring. I know she had a nice long life, passing at 98, but it’s still hard to know that she isn’t out here, holding down the fort. Meet The Matts lost one of its own this week too, as “It’s a fragile thing, this life we lead. If I think too much I can get overwhelmed by the grace by which we lead our lives with death over our shoulders.”
RIP Grandma and Big Al.
Anyway, you came here for my bad jokes, not mortality anxiety. So what’s going on in sports? Out here in the Bay Area people only seem to want to talk about Angry Ward’s Golden State Warriors. Kevin Durant coming over has seemed to take away the sting of the collapse against the Cavs. But as a Yankee fan who’s lived through 2004, I know it still stings. No one seems to care about Colin Kaepernick and neither do I. This is America, let him protest. If you want to talk about some really bad decisions he’s made this off-season, let’s start with him not taking a pay cut to go to the defending champs. A fresh start in a top flight organization, throwing to Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders didn’t sound appealing? That might’ve been a good career move. This was after he tried to force a trade in the first place by refusing to play for the Niners. Someone should have told him that his skill set might work pretty well in Chip Kelly’s offense. Rumor has it that he may get cut and that Denver is also going to cut the Butt-fumbler. I wonder if Kaep will end up in Denver after all?
Back on the home front, both the Yankees and Mets continue to hang out on the fringe of the party. The Mets seem to have the easier schedule down the stretch, with multiple series against the Braves and Phillies, plus duds like the Reds and Twins on the sched. But the infestation of the injury bug in Flushing has been brutal. They lost their SS on Sunday, as the unfortunately named Asdrubal Cabrera came up lame trying to beat out a bunt. Big Cess is getting hot, but he was out of the lineup Sunday after aggravating his quad rounding third the day before. No word on whether this injury will interfere with his golf schedule. Fingers crossed. Do these guys show up 5 minutes before the game and run onto the field without stretching? Man, I almost feel badly for them.
The Yanks have a much tougher schedule and lots of teams to leapfrog. They had a tough loss on Sunday, but are still in the hunt. And it’s sure been fun checking the stats from out here and seeing Sanchez hit one out damn near every day. I had to explain to my West Coast relatives about Gary Sanchez and my BBB (link to Baby Bomber Boner post), but they and the rest of the world will know soon enough.
As for out local football teams, let’s pretend that game didn’t happen. Have the offenses been practicing? Olympic synchronized diving was more exciting.
Feel free to fire away below and come back tomorrow for Angry Ward, who has kept things together here with humor in the face of adversity. And please follow us on Twitter – @BenWhit8 & @MeetTheMatts and like our Facebook page, Meet The Matts. Thank you.
