Entering play Monday, the Mets had dropped five straight, including getting swept by the last place Miami Marlins, who collected a receipt after the Mets had beaten them five times this season.
Predictably, New York tabloid media and talk radio, dubbed "The Valley of The Stupid" by New York Daily News media columnist Bob Raissman, decided to vent, and declared second year manager Mickey Calloway's job is in jeopardy.
First year GM and former agent Brodie Van Wagenen gave Calloway the dreaded vote of confidence on Monday afternoon, hours before the Mets dispatched fourth place Washington. The love affair is over between Van Wagenen and the team's online fan base, and their perception is that owner Fred Wilpon and his son, Jeff, are the most inept owners the team has had, operating on the cheap. Remember, they're still digging out of the mess created by scam artist Bernard Madoff a few years ago, so the Wilpons would rather go cheap than find the right tools (players) to appease the fan base.
Free agent pitchers Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel are still out there because their agents refused to budge on contract terms. Kimbrel, in particular, collected a World Series ring with Boston last year, and Keuchel did the same a year earlier with Houston. The free agent market isn't as strong as it used to be as more owners are preferring to take greater investments on home-grown players, which Keuchel was with Houston.
The Mets haven't been this cheap since the infamous M. Donald Grant was GM in the 70's. They opted to trade for Wilmer Font, getting him from Tampa Bay a couple of weeks back for cash.
Somewhere, Jack Benny is smiling.
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So War of Will won the Preakness on Saturday, recovering from the Kentucky Derby debacle two weeks earlier. However, what folks wanted to talk about was the fact that Bodexpress dumped jockey John Velazquez at the start, and actually led much of the way. Even if he won, it wouldn't have counted because he ran free without a rider, and that's a big no-no, or, neigh, in racing.
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Japan gave us Godzilla, who became a pop culture icon in both countries, as well as everywhere else, immortalized in song by the Blue Oyster Cult in the 70's.
Unfortunately, a bigger menace to pop culture is headed their way.
President Trump is heading to Japan later this week to meet with new emperor Naruhito, and is interested in attending the finals of a sumo wrestling championship. Trump, a close friend of WWE CEO/Chairman Vince McMahon, is just piquing his curiosity, but he'll soon find that sumo wrestling is serious business.
We can only hope he doesn't go full Ugly American in Tokyo.
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Speaking of WWE, while the Monday Night Raw troupe was in town last night at Times-Union Center, McMahon is proving again and again that he doesn't have clue one about solving the ratings problems plaguing his company.
Former champ Brock Lesnar returned Sunday, and was a surprise entrant in the men's Money in The Bank ladder match. The fact that he won, barely doing anything, was mostly for shock value, and a vain attempt at juicing ratings, which were likely to tank opposite the NBA playoffs last night.
The nature of Lesnar's contract with WWE, signed seven years ago, allows him to pick and choose when he appears at his leisure, and thus is not beholden to McMahon as everyone else is, and that is wrong. Fans have complained about Lesnar winning championships and defending when he feels like it, and rejoiced when he dropped the Universal title to Seth Rollins last month at Wrestlemania.
Look, I get that McMahon is seven levels of desperate for ratings here, but his complacency the last few years has created a feeling of staleness with the product. The promo he and his family cut a week before Christmas, promising changes? Empty lip service, five months later. The product conforms to his out of date, myopic vision. Son-in-law Paul "Triple H" Levesque, curator of NXT, the company's developmental brand, has, in the eyes of fans, more on the ball than McMahon, who will be 74 after Summerslam in August.
However, the company is revisiting the Attitude Era of the late 90's and early '00's as much as possible lately, and it's not helping.
Shane McMahon turned heel back in March, and is playing the spoiled, entitled bully, just as he did at various times between 1998-2001. The once beloved cult favorite is bordering on being overexposed, but his father doesn't care.
Last night, a new title, the 24/7 championship, merely the old hardcore title given a new, 21st century look, was introduced. The hardcore title, a knock on ECW, was popular with fans, and McMahon is looking to recapture the vibe of nearly 20 years ago.
What does this tell us? For all the fresh ideas being submitted to McMahon by his creative staff, he rejects them in favor of older concepts, most of which don't really fit anymore. To say he's stuck in the past would be a gross understatement.
And then, there is the spectre of the nascent All Elite Wrestling, founded by Matt & Nick Jackson (The Young Bucks) and wrestler-actor Cody Runnels, which will have Double or Nothing taking place Saturday in Las Vegas, with a TV deal with TNT to kick in come October, after Smackdown changes networks and nights, from Tuesdays on USA to Fridays on Fox. If AEW delivers a superior product on Saturday night, that will give them much needed momentum, publicity, and create something McMahon hasn't seen in 18 years. A viable threat to his dominance of the business. Cody's father, the late Dusty Rhodes, not only was a top star with the NWA in the 80's, but he also worked behind the scenes on their television programs.
In that respect, Cody has something in common with Levesque. Both are old school at their cores. You can bet that Levesque, who has created a back to basics approach with NXT (coming to Albany in August at the Capital Center, according to early reports), and wants to do the same with the main WWE roster, will be watching AEW closely. And quietly cheering for Cody.
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