Off The Bench

Greetings from beautiful sunny downtown New Rochelle, where the temperature is probably a good 10 degrees lower than it is inland. Oh well, I’ll still take it.

Ah, Spring. The time of the year when the weather warms up and I’m constantly thinking that I’m getting sick when I’m really dealing with some lame allergy.

So exactly what kind of boost did that walkoff A-Rod homer against the Indians give the Yankees two weeks ago? It’s not A-Rod’s fault – imagine how bad it would be without him – but there are still a lot of problems. We’ll see if a trip to Texas is what they need. Oh and by the way, Bobby Murcer will be part of the YES TV crew. That’s great news.

I asked my friend JoJo where to get good pizza here in New Ro, so she suggested a place to me within walking distance of our office. Her endorsement didn’t strike me as ringing, but I figured I’d give it a shot. I liked it, and it’s fine in a pinch, but I wouldn’t give a ringing endorsement either. A quick Top-5 (off the top of my noggin’) would be this:

5) Plaza Pizzeria – Carmel. The guys are friendly and the food is really good. It’s not easy to find good pizza in “the sticks” but these guys get it done. One beef – they don’t except credit cards (which by the way, The Blazer Pub in Purdy’s doesn’t do either. Too bad because they have well-known burgers there).
4) Peppino’s – Somers (Baldwin Place at Mahopac). Like Plaza Pizzeria, this is a small, no-frills pizza joint. Then pizza tastes like the Bronx – good flavor, especially in the sauce, while the crust is almost a perfect consistency. But dinner here is a treat. Their chicken parmesan is just too good.
3) Dom and Vinnie’s – Valhalla. I don’t think I’ve ever ordered a full fresh pizza from these guys, so if the reheated pies are that good, then that’s saying something. Again, it’s small and no-fills. Some misses can be had sometimes, but the hits are oh-so-good.
2) Patsy’s – Manhattan (the Harlem one, not the midtown one). I only had it once, after my brother told me about it. We bought the pie and it rode in my lap from 1st Avenue to Mahopac. It was still amazing when I finally bit into it.
1) Sal’s – Mamaroneck. All I can say is that it is a religious experience for me. The people there are sometimes like soup Nazi’s (of Seinfeld fame, people!) but the pizza just melts in your mouth. A regular slice? Sicilian? Both? You can’t go wrong.

Lucio’s in Pleasantville and Nicky’s in White Plains are also top-notch and I’m sure there are others. Notice that I picked plain pizza places (so “Greek style” Four Brothers in Mahopac didn’t make the cut). And chain pizzas? Nope. Frozen? In a pinch, fine, but they’re not going to be here. My friend and fellow blogger Sean Kilkelly is fond of Italian Pavilion in White Plains. It’s all subjective, of course and believe me, just after I hit the “publish” button I’ll realize that I left somebody out.

We pulled off my mother’s surprise party at McCarthy’s in Lake Carmel Sunday. If you were on route 52 yesterday and saw a sign that said “Happy 70th Birthday Nancy”, you know what it was for. What the party reminded me of (along with wakes, funerals, and weddings) is that life is too short and we have to make time to be with people we enjoy. That said, nobody has the time.

That’s some great driving in Oakland, CA. If you didn’t see it, a truck fire brought down part of an interchange near the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge, in what’s being described as the worst traffic nightmare since the 1989 earthquake. For us New Yorkers, the interchange is like the equivalent of, say, the LIE and the Grand Central, or 287 at 87 near the Tappan Zee Bridge (in Westchester) or something like that. In other words, it is a vital artery in the Bay Area and a chunk of it is closed. The proverbial “they” don’t know when it will be fixed either.

Geez, and I thought it was taking “them” a long time to fix the sinkhole on 6N between Myrtle Ave and Hill St in Mahopac?

I haven’t talked too much about it, but what the hell is going on with The Sopranos? I get that they sometimes need an episode to set things up, and I’ve never been a big critic of the show, but last night was just not up to par for me. Then there was that poop thing…

Yes, you read that last sentence correctly.

Attention smokers! You have often been the target of many rants (perhaps not in the blog) but definitely in my thoughts. Here’s the deal. Cars come with these things called ashtrays (and if yours doesn’t have one, then buy one). Put your fookin ciggies in that ash tray, you arsehole. Should I just spit my gum out the window when I’m done?

Oh, and let this be a reminder to my fellow drivers that signals are your friends. Use them. Please.

Next up – celebrity driving school with my guest star, John Corzine! Seriously, the governor of New Jersey left the hospital yesterday, and I do wish him nothing but the best. Just because I think he’s a political clown doesn’t mean I wish poor health on the man. I just always thought he was proof that the most money buys an election.

I hate chain letters, whether they appear via email, MySpace, or any other way. They are evil, and I ignore virtually every one. As Cream sang in “Born Under a Bad Sign”, “if it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all.” That, friends, is quite true.

Why do people drink decaf coffee? Are you trying to tell me that it’s for the taste?

Couldn’t help but ponder that one when I saw the pot on the burner in the kitchen here.

Apparently there’s sadness over the fact that “The King of Queens” is ending on TV. Hmmm…guess I can’t be sad if I never watched it. That show sits in the “Everybody Loves Raymond (But Me)” category. Never watched it but more importantly, never wanted to watch it. If I’m going for CBS sitcoms, I’ll take “How I Met Your Mother” first. That is, of course, if I’m not watching “The Office”, “Scrubs”, and “30 Rock” over on NBC.

You remember NBC, don’t you? The home of the gutless news division?
By the way, it isn’t appointment TV for me, but “Deal or No Deal” is just too good. There isn’t a better host than Howie Mandell (and I never thought I’d ever say anything nice about him). It isn’t even about the models. It is, however, about watching people get greedy and implode. Take last night, for instance. Here’s a 19 year-old college girl facing a board with huge dollar amounts, but she has been offered $239,000 to walk away. She declined. Long story short, she walked out with $88,000. Not too shabby, but greed did her in.

That’s the beauty of the show. That and watching The Son imitate Howie’s “open the case.”

Boomer Esiason is now holding down the Imus slot on WFAN and the remaining affiliates. At first I was dismissive, and will not base my day around it, but it’s been fairly tolerable. So far, Boomer has had somebody to kind of keep him company (besides Charles McCord, Chris Carlin, and Lou Ruffino). Yesterday it was Chris “Mad Dog” Russo. Today it was Cris Collinsworth. Tomorrow it is Monica Crowley. Interesting stuff. Boomer says he would not consider doing the morning radio bit on a consistent basis, so those who thing that the “B-man” will become the next “I-man” are wrong.

At least based on what he said this morning. If they showed him the money, who knows?

Crowley, on the other hand, might be the one to take a stab at it. It bears watching.

Greetings from beautiful sunny downtown New Rochelle, where the temperature is probably a good 10 degrees lower than it is inland. Oh well, I’ll still take it.

Ah, Spring. The time of the year when the weather warms up and I’m constantly thinking that I’m getting sick when I’m really dealing with some lame allergy.

So exactly what kind of boost did that walkoff A-Rod homer against the Indians give the Yankees two weeks ago? It’s not A-Rod’s fault – imagine how bad it would be without him – but there are still a lot of problems. We’ll see if a trip to Texas is what they need. Oh and by the way, Bobby Murcer will be part of the YES TV crew. That’s great news.

I asked my friend JoJo where to get good pizza here in New Ro, so she suggested a place to me within walking distance of our office. Her endorsement didn’t strike me as ringing, but I figured I’d give it a shot. I liked it, and it’s fine in a pinch, but I wouldn’t give a ringing endorsement either. A quick Top-5 (off the top of my noggin’) would be this:

5) Plaza Pizzeria – Carmel. The guys are friendly and the food is really good. It’s not easy to find good pizza in “the sticks” but these guys get it done. One beef – they don’t except credit cards (which by the way, The Blazer Pub in Purdy’s doesn’t do either. Too bad because they have well-known burgers there).
4) Peppino’s – Somers (Baldwin Place at Mahopac). Like Plaza Pizzeria, this is a small, no-frills pizza joint. Then pizza tastes like the Bronx – good flavor, especially in the sauce, while the crust is almost a perfect consistency. But dinner here is a treat. Their chicken parmesan is just too good.
3) Dom and Vinnie’s – Valhalla. I don’t think I’ve ever ordered a full fresh pizza from these guys, so if the reheated pies are that good, then that’s saying something. Again, it’s small and no-fills. Some misses can be had sometimes, but the hits are oh-so-good.
2) Patsy’s – Manhattan (the Harlem one, not the midtown one). I only had it once, after my brother told me about it. We bought the pie and it rode in my lap from1st Avenue to Mahopac. It was still amazing when I finally bit into it.
1) Sal’s – Mamaroneck. All I can say is that it is a religious experience for me. The people there are sometimes like soup Nazi’s (of Seinfeld fame, people!) but the pizza just melts in your mouth. A regular slice? Sicilian? Both? You can’t go wrong.

Lucio’s in Pleasantville and Nicky’s in White Plains are also top-notch and I’m sure there are others. Notice that I picked plain pizza places (so “Greek style” Four Brothers in Mahopac didn’t make the cut). And chain pizzas? Nope. Frozen? In a pinch, fine, but they’re not going to be here. My friend and fellow blogger Sean Kilkelly is fond of Italian Pavilion in White Plains. It’s all subjective, of course and believe me, just after I hit the “publish” button I’ll realize that I left somebody out.

We pulled off my mother’s surprise party at McCarthy’s in Lake Carmel Sunday. If you were on route 52 yesterday and saw a sign that said “Happy 70th Birthday Nancy”, you know what it was for. What the party reminded me of (along with wakes, funerals, and weddings) is that life is too short and we have to make time to be with people we enjoy. That said, nobody has the time.

That’s some great driving in Oakland, CA. If you didn’t see it, a truck fire brought down part of an interchange near the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge, in what’s being described as the worst traffic nightmare since the 1989 earthquake. For us New Yorkers, the interchange is like the equivalent of, say, the LIE and the Grand Central, or 287 at 87 near the Tappan Zee Bridge (in Westchester) or something like that. In other words, it is a vital artery in the Bay Area and a chunk of it is closed. The proverbial “they” don’t know when it will be fixed either.

Geez, and I thought it was taking “them” a long time to fix the sinkhole on 6N between Myrtle Ave and Hill St in Mahopac?

I haven’t talked too much about it, but what the hell is going on with The Sopranos? I get that they sometimes need an episode to set things up, and I’ve never been a big critic of the show, but last night was just not up to par for me. Then there was that poop thing…

Yes, you read that last sentence correctly.

Attention smokers! You have often been the target of many rants (perhaps not in the blog) but definitely in my thoughts. Here’s the deal. Cars come with these things called ashtrays (and if yours doesn’t have one, then buy one). Put your fookin ciggies in that ash tray, you arsehole. Should I just spit my gum out the window when I’m done?

Oh, and let this be a reminder to my fellow drivers that signals are your friends. Use them. Please.

Next up – celebrity driving school with my guest star, John Corzine! Seriously, the governor of New Jersey left the hospital yesterday, and I do wish him nothing but the best. Just because I think he’s a political clown doesn’t mean I wish poor health on the man. I just always thought he was proof that the most money buys an election.

I hate chain letters, whether they appear via email, MySpace, or any other way. They are evil, and I ignore virtually every one. As Cream sang in “Born Under a Bad Sign”, “if it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all.” That, friends, is quite true.

Why do people drink decaf coffee? Are you trying to tell me that it’s for the taste?

Couldn’t help but ponder that one when I saw the pot on the burner in the kitchen here.

Apparently there’s sadness over the fact that “The King of Queens” is ending on TV. Hmmm…guess I can’t be sad if I never watched it. That show sits in the “Everybody Loves Raymond (But Me)” category. Never watched it but more importantly, never wanted to watch it. If I’m going for CBS sitcoms, I’ll take “How I Met Your Mother” first. That is, of course, if I’m not watching “The Office”, “Scrubs”, and “30 Rock” over on NBC.

You remember NBC, don’t you? The home of the gutless news division?
By the way, it isn’t appointment TV for me, but “Deal or No Deal” is just too good. There isn’t a better host than Howie Mandell (and I never thought I’d ever say anything nice about him). It isn’t even about the models. It is, however, about watching people get greedy and implode. Take last night, for instance. Here’s a 19 year-old college girl facing a board with huge dollar amounts, but she has been offered $239,000 to walk away. She declined. Long story short, she walked out with $88,000. Not too shabby, but greed did her in.

That’s the beauty of the show. That and watching The Son imitate Howie’s “open the case.”

Boomer Esiason is now holding down the Imus slot on WFAN and the remaining affiliates. At first I was dismissive, and will not base my day around it, but it’s been fairly tolerable. So far, Boomer has had somebody to kind of keep him company (besides Charles McCord, Chris Carlin, and Lou Ruffino). Yesterday it was Chris “Mad Dog” Russo. Today it was Cris Collinsworth. Tomorrow it is Monica Crowley. Interesting stuff. Boomer says he would not consider doing the morning radio bit on a consistent basis, so those who thing that the “B-man” will become the next “I-man” are wrong.

At least based on what he said this morning. If they showed him the money, who knows?

Crowley, on the other hand, might be the one to take a stab at it. It bears watching.

I have so much more to say, but I can’t remember any of it. I guess with senility settling in, I really should be writing these things down when I think of them, eh?

People who honk their horns for no apparent reason should be vanquished on-site. At least count to ten before the yabo at the light doesn’t move.

Of course this plan would mean that we’re going to be low on cab drivers, but we’ll survive.

I am beyond sick of listening to people whine about "NIMBY-ish" things. Indian Point doesn't seem to be going anywhere, so get over it. There will be a new Yankee Stadium and there is not a blessed thing I can do about it, so I'm dealing with it. Eventually if Patterson Crossing isn't built, something else will come along.

Every day I read some idiotic complaint in the paper about something - trivial or otherwise. Like the person who complained about the trains honking on the Metro North lines coming into the Peekskill station. Apparently that bothered him in his pricey condo. So, you know, as not to disturb him, the trains could try their softer horns.

Hey, you knew the train was there when you bought it, fool!

For those who are about to take me to task, there is a difference between a train horn that HAS to honk and a car horn that needs to honk.

I have so much more to say, but I can’t remember any of it. I guess with senility settling in, I really should be writing these things down when I think of them, eh?

Wouldn't be right if I didn't finish with birthday greetings for my blog mate Tim Parry. TP doesn't look a day over...um...um...30. How's that, Tim? Happy Birthday, and thanks for helping to make my job as a broadcaster a lot easier.

(Just one thing, Tim - update that personal blog...soon).

The birthday wishes are belated, but heartfelt nonetheless.

Oh, and Rangers in Seven (and stay onsides, or something like that).

I no sooner hit "publish" on this one when I found out that a coworker in my department passed away this morning. A very young woman is gone - please think some good thoughts. Sometimes I really can't figure the world out.