Greatest Song Evah 9/1/23

Otherside

Original Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak died of an overdose in 1988 at the age of 26. That tragedy has hovered over the band throughout their entire career, due to both the grief they share over their fallen friend as well as the addiction issues that many of the surviving members have dealt with over the years. Survivor’s guilt? There but for the grace of God go I? Perhaps. They have frequently referenced Slovak’s death in their songs, sometimes overtly and sometimes in a case such as this week’s selection which addresses addiction without specifically referencing Slovak.

They had long since matured from the band who posed for promotional photos wearing only discreetly placed tube socks and who wrote songs such as Catholic High School Girls Rule. They had expanded their sound well beyond the aggressive white boy funk with which they first made their mark. From Day 1 Flea and his powerful bass work was the band’s MVP, but over time Anthony Kiedis added depth to his vocal skills. What really sells this song for me is the harmony vocal work. You can really feel the sadness; it’s obvious how meaningful this song is to the band.

Back in the late 80s I would have never guessed that the Peppers would still be around and thriving at such a late date, and if they were it would have been as a joke band. Their creative peak has long passed, but they still sell records and sell out shows. Just goes to show what a little creative growth can do.

Game 6

I didn’t want Monday’s write up of the 1986 Mets season to run too long, so I saved my personal reminiscence for a separate entry. The postseason run took place during the fall semester of my junior year at Fordham. I would highly recommend seeing your favorite team win a championship while you’re in college; the communal spirit ads a lot to the celebration.

The 1986 playoffs were filled with multiple historic games, but nothing topped Game 6 of the World Series. It was one of those “where were you when?” moments, although most New England natives prefer not to answer that question. I know of at least 2 subscribers who were at the game - you lucky SOBs - but if you’ll indulge me, here is my experience with that game.

Game 6 was played on a Saturday evening - part of the game’s legend is that it ran so long that NBC decided to postpone that evening’s scheduled SNL episode. A few innings into the game the majority of my suite mates headed out to go to the off-campus bars. There was no way I was gonna do that. I needed to focus on this game. So I was watching the game with only 1 of my suite mates, who was decidedly not a Mets fan.

The game went into extra innings, and Dave Henderson led off the inning with a home run to give Boston the lead. (This was days after Henderson hit the one-strike-away homer that kept Boston alive in the ALCS. Imagine what sort of regional hero Hendu would have been had the Sox won the World Series.) Boston later tacked on an insurance run, and things suddenly looked as bleak as could be. My buddy was busting my balls big time as this was going on. I heard constant chatter of “things are looking pretty bad for the Mets!” It was good natured, but I was still in disbelief. Not only was a special season about to end just short of the finish line, but I had to suffer through this chopbusting while it was going on.

It got worse as the first 2 Mets hitters in the bottom of the tenth hit weak fly balls. And then, things changed. 3 consecutive 2-out singles brought the Mets to within 1 run with the tying run 90 feet away and Mookie Wilson at the plate. The room grew silent as my friend & I both sat in disbelief at what we were seeing. No hard feelings toward my suitemate, but once the Mets completed their unbelievable comeback, I needed to find fellow Mets fans to share the moment with. I was practically channeling Jim Valvano, as I was running around campus trying to find someone to hug. I eventually settled on popping into the campus radio station; we aired a sports call-in show on Saturday nights so I knew there would be fellow travelers there, and everyone shared the disbelief over what we just witnessed.

I had zero doubt that Game 7 would go our way. A rainout that caused the game to be pushed back a day? Big deal. The extra day allowing Boston to switch plans and have Bruce Hurst start the game instead of Oil Can Boyd? Bring it on. An early deficit, which required yet another comeback? Been there, done that. And once Jesse Orosco struck out Marty Barrett for that final out, there was much joy and a room filled with people to properly celebrate it with.

There was no reason to think this wouldn’t be the first of many celebrations. Surely with the number of young stars and a deep rotation seemingly tailor made for annual postseason success, we had the makings of a dynasty. Surely this was the type of club that would hoist the trophy multiple times. Right? Right?

Waiver Season

We almost had a flashback to the old days in MLB when there was essentially a second trade deadline for players that managed to clear waivers. The Angels exploited a loophole and placed 6 players on waivers on Tuesday. Trades are no longer allowed at this date, instead what they and other teams did was the equivalent of placing an old unwanted piece of furniture on the sidewalk with a “free” sign attached. The comparison doesn’t fully hold because a new team wouldn’t be grabbing a free chair - all of those teams that claimed players yesterday will have to pay their salaries for the remainder of the season - but work with me here.

I was surprised to see so many people fail to understand the process. Fans shouldn’t have been expected to, but too many writers who should have known better misconstrued the meaning of waivers here. To use the Yankees as an example, on Tuesday they released Josh Donaldson and exposed Harrison Bader to waivers. That meant Donaldson was out of the organization, but Bader was still a Yankee unless and until another team would claim him on Thursday, as the Reds did. But the failure of many writers to accurately explain the distinction confused many fans. Wait a minute, I thought Bader was waived. How could he be in tonight’s lineup? And unless a team ultimately decides to DFA someone whom they had placed on waivers, they still retain the player if unclaimed. That’s why Carlos Carrasco is still a Met and why, despite being one of the Angels 6, Randal Grichuk remains in Anaheim.

It’s also worth pointing out that news of players placed on this type of waiver isn’t usually made public unless a player gets claimed. Part of me believes that someone leaked the names out in order to embarrass the Angels, because this is not a good look for the game. It’s one thing for a club to punt on the season and trade away multiple veteran players. At least in that case they’re getting back young talent that could theoretically help out the club in the future. What the Angels just pulled isn’t that. They’re burning down a condemned building to grab the insurance money. I have to imagine that the league will address this issue in the offseason and try to come up with a way to avoid this in the future.

Finally, it’s worth noting why the waiver frenzy took place yesterday and it has to do with postseason eligibility rules. A player needs to be in the organization as of September 1 to be allowed to be on a playoff roster. That’s why it’s possible for a minor leaguer to appear in a postseason game even before making his official regular season major league debut, as has happened on occasion in recent years. On the other hand, if Jamie Moyer wakes up tomorrow morning and decides he still has some innings left in that arm of us, any club can sign him to make some starts down the stretch, but he cannot pitch in October. Our loss.

Mitch

Let me preface this by saying that by no means do I intend to sound ageist. Nor am I calling for term limits. That topic warrants a deeper discussion, but the short version is that term limits increase the power of lobbyists even higher than they already are. With that out of the way, the danger of the number of prominent members of the government who are quite elderly is disturbing.

By now I’m sure everyone has seen the footage of Mitch McConnell’s most recent episode. To freeze in front of the cameras once is concerning, to have it happen a second time a month later is alarming. And who knows how many similar incidents he may have recently had out of camera view, especially since he has also suffered a recent fall? And of course on the other side of the aisle Dianne Feinstein’s physical and mental deterioration is all too obvious.

The natural tendency is to paint this as a chickens coming home to roost moment, as the GOP never passes up an opportunity to accuse Joe Biden of senility, yet one of their party leaders is so clearly diminished. But this shouldn’t be yet another partisan squabble. Keeping people in power even if they can no longer handle the job affects all of us, regardless of party ideology. Power is an addictive substance, but do none of these people have loved ones who care enough about them to take away the car keys? And of course, this applies to more than just the Senate. Both William Rehnquist and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were seriously ill in their final years on the Supreme Court. And as shocking as Antonin Scalia’s death was at the time, keep in mind that he was about to turn 80.

I’m not sure what the ideal solution is. I honestly feel that term limits are a non-starter. I’m not sure how realistic age limits or mandatory retirements would be. Some people can still remain vibrant well into their senior years, while others start turning decrepit at a relatively young age. Someone wiser than I am has gotta be able to come up with a reasonable policy that can minimize the gerontocracy we’re living under; we can’t have a Senate filled with Strom Thurmonds. Even looking at it from a humanitarian perspective, you would think that most of these people have earned the right to a restful retirement, not to literally work up to the point of incapacitation, especially doing it so publicly.

A Major Milestone

The latest data point demonstrating the growth of women’s sports came up in Nebraska on Wednesday. A volleyball match was held in Memorial Stadium, and this was the scene.

Yes, this was the largest crowd ever for a women’s sporting event, even higher than the crowd for the classic 1999 World Cup final held in the Rose Bowl. A terrible night for the No One Cares About Women’s Sports crowd.

Enjoy The Weekend

Like most of you I’m going to be relaxing this holiday weekend, so I won’t send out the regular Monday newsletter until Tuesday this week. Have a peaceful weekend everyone!