NEW YORK, NY – Happy Wednesday, one and all. These past few weeks have been fairly awful for yours truly, but hoping the days and weeks ahead offer bluer skies, smooth sailing, and maybe even a few more wins by the New York Mets. [Note: They won yesterday 7-2 with an overserved Short Matt in attendance.] There were a couple of newsworthy passings yesterday, so let’s get to them.
Farewell, “El Tiante.” For anyone who grew up watching baseball in the 1970s, as I did, the announcement of Luis Tiant’s death yesterday was sad but brought back a rush of great memories. Ya see, that era of baseball had a colorful assortment of characters, and Tiant was certainly one of them. While Detroit’s Mark Fidrych captured everyone’s attention with his wild mound-manicuring and ball-talking antics in 1976, Luis Tiant was also appointment viewing. With his herky-jerky windup and turn-his-back-to-the-batter delivery, “El Tiante” was a 20-game winner three times in four years between 1973-1976. He also went 2-0 in the epic 1975 World Series between his Red Sox and the Reds. Even as he got older, he was still crafty enough a pitcher to get guys out. In 1979 at age 38 he ended up on the Yankees (bummer), but won 13 games and even made a hilarious “It’s great to be with a wiener” commercial for Colonial Franks, the official (and awful) hot dog of the Bronx Bombers. Even in his post-baseball career, he remained a visible figure, including a short but memorable turn on an old episode of Cheers. Guys like Tiant—and other great players from that era—will never be seen again, but will never be forgotten of those who had the good fortune of seeing them play. Rest in peace, Luis.
Don’t Let the Door Hit Ya on the Way Out, Bobby. The other big news from Tuesday was Jets head coach Robert Saleh getting sh!tcanned after a 2-3 start to the 2024 season. Let’s just get the obvious out of the way first: the Jets are a laughable franchise with a history littered with terrible GMs, worse coaches, and a loser fanbase that career criminals would be embarrassed to bring home to mom. But don’t you dare overlook their douchebag owner, the aptly-named Woody Johnson. It all starts out at the top, folks, and the top of the Jets makes Dan Snyder look like Art Rooney. Finally, you didn’t think I was gonna let Aaron Rodgers off the hook, didja? Am I the only one out there who thinks he really doesn’t give a flying crap about football at this point? He’s making almost $40 million a year and he didn’t even have to work last year. In postgame pressers he looks like he’s smirking when talking about things like his 3 picks against Minnesota (go Vikes!). Face it, he’d rather be in Egypt or Malta or anywhere else but in East Rutherford with the Jets. But, don’t worry, he’s gonna collect those hefty paychecks any which way. So, yeah, Robert Saleh got fired by the Jets. Totally his fault, we’re sure. Hope he resurrects his career kinda like Brian Flores has, as a Defensive Coordinator with a team that’s not completely dysfunctional.
That’s all for today. Come back tomorrow for Buddy Diaz, whose Yankees get into it again tonight with those pesky Royals. Finally: Let’s go Mets!
