Happy Second Anniversary

Before the first broadcast: Me, Bill Bloxsom, Dave Stewart. Nov. 21, 2013 (Joshua Fisher photo)

A quick note to recognize the second anniversary of what is now the HAN Network.

We started, softly, with a pregame show at Noon on November 21, 2013. Our "grand opening" happened a night later.

This is what that pregame show sounded like.



The next night, New Canaan beat St. Joseph for the FCIAC Championship. Paul Silverfarb and Chris Kaelin joined me for the call.



Two years. Two-hundred-fifty-one games. Too many programs for me to comprehend. The move into video. The development of broadcasters and production people.

Boyle Stadium. Doubleday Field. Pelham Country Club. Brewery Ommegang. Vermont. Mohegan Sun. Even Key West.

The addition of friendships. Tons of emotion. Blood. Sweat. Tears.

Laughs.

Pride.

The future is very exciting.

0-for-October

Just me. With Mo.

I struck out in October. I went a complete month without posting.

That's never happened. Not since we started this whole thing.

Sure I have topics. Sometimes I have a few minutes where I can write.

Yet I didn't.

I've been reading lately, and just finished up To Kill a Mockingbird. After all these years, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is next.

Incidentally, To Kill a Mockingbird is special. Very special. Far more special when you read it as an adult.

I interviewed Mariano Rivera in October. Yes. Very cool.



I've called games. Lots of them. I flew past 900 for my career, and will sail to 1,000 pretty soon with any luck.

I tried to get back into the world a little. I went to the movies on Halloween night and saw Bridge of Spies. I recommend it.

I watched some sports - especially baseball. As a Yankees fan who has long considered myself to be fair, I get that I am charged with bias and whatever against the Mets (and any other team that fits the narrative). Yet here's the thing: I picked the Mets to make the playoffs. I created the hashtag #Metsies15. The nicest thing I can say is that I didn't care how they were doing otherwise. Ambivalence is a beautiful thing.

The Yankees departed the postseason after one game. Sigh.

The Mets made the World Series. So did the Royals. The Royals won in five. Bully for them.

Over the past month, I've seen more Mets hats, t-shirts, license plater frames, etc than I have in the past 30 years. Why is that? I wear my Yankees stuff when times are good or bad. Wore plenty of it in the 80's, when the Mets "ruled New York."

I always wear something the day after they lose in the playoffs. It's a pride thing. Coincidentally, I saw no one piece of Mets garb yesterday. Again, that's a coincidence, given that I know reading comprehension can be a struggle and, hey, there's a narrative to be told.

Fans who said - categorically - they would never watch the team again suddenly came roaring back.

These same fans lauded Daniel Murphy as the second coming of George Herman Ruth. Then, days later, they booed him.

Yet I get called out about it. OK. Makes sense.

Anyway, congratulations to the legitimate fans. I know a bunch - Dave Sweet, Tony Savino, John Connelly, John Kovach, etc. They wouldn't have emptied out Citi Field the other night (which was first reported by several sports guys on Twitter. Then FOX's camera showed the pictures).

I've got not time for the phonies. I can't be one.

I actually didn't care who won or lost, but I saw some bad stuff during this week. Can't add anything more to that statement.

I'll focus on what my team - the Yankees, my team since 1972 - will do next year. But since I'm a sports talk personality, I also have a job to comment on the goings-on around the world of sports. So I shall.

Anyway, it's Election Day, and for the first time since 1999, I won't be covering any elections. No campaign headquarters for me this year. I'll be calling the FCIAC field hockey quarterfinals tonight at championships.han.network.

Hopefully I'll be posting more also. Like anything else, it just take a few minutes. Yet it's easier than it sounds.