YANKS MARCHING

In the mid 90’s the “Jam Band Movement” hit this country like the British Invasion of the early 1960s. Suddenly songs elongated from around 3 and a half minutes to 15 minutes of vamping, flourishes, solos and breakdowns. Some of it was ok…at first. However, it wore out its welcome quicker than your typical jam band tune.

Most of those puka shell necklace wearing outfits - Rusted Root, Widespread Panic, Dispatch and Big Head Todd & The Monsters – have drifted into the ether. There is one band that, in many ways, have become the New York Yankees of Jam Band music…THE DAVE MATTHEWS BAND.

Much like the Bronx Bombers, this crew packs them in on the road. They have a massive, loyal following. Even causal music fans are familiar with their act…the way someone who’s never watched baseball knows who the Yankees are. Unfortunately, the comparisons aren’t all a good thing.

I recently saw David and his gang…twice…in 3 weeks’ time. The first time in Camden just across the bridge from Philadelphia (I bet someone I was with that no matter what we’d hear a E A G L E S! spelling chant…you never disappoint, Philly…. awful.)

The second show was in the Insurance Capital of the World…Hartford, CT. What was the takeaway? Well, I still like many of Matthews’ songs. Dave and his band are very talented and the rush of memories of past shows made nostalgia hit like the contact high hanging in the air like a sad, hippie quilt. The other thing I left with is how formulaic it has all become. Sure, the set list is different each night but the rest…the rest is just the same old song. Dave is quirky. He offers up a few, “Thank y’all very, very much. We hope you’re having a nice time.” He may toss in a political nugget or dance like a Muppet with his loose leg hops and struts. Then we are treated to DMB’s Free Bird. A song as tied to a Dave Matthews show as New York, New York is to Yankee Stadium.

It’s catchy. Everyone knows the words…or has made up their own. It’s a great ending song…but it’s canned. The band walks off and gives us the 7-minute rest period before returning for the encore. It was fine. I enjoyed the show…but not as much as I once did.

The Yanks are the DMB. HUGE! DYNASTIC! CHAMPIONSHIP PROVEN! EXCITING...in the 1990s. Back when Stick Michaels was the “Tour Manager”. 

The club is now like the shows I saw. They dine out on old stories. They still bring in the audiences. They make you nostalgic with Paul O’Neill Nights, Bernie Bobble Heads or letting us watch Nelly groove one to Nick Swisher so he can go yard.

Brian Cashman is the record exec using yesterday and loyal fan base to hold down a job he does poorly. 

He knows the formula gets us just “good enough”…but that’s it? We do the same song every year and get the same story when it goes upside down at season’s end. We leave the ballpark in the Bronx the way I left the Dave Matthews shows…I’m a fan…but not like I was. 

Sure, they’re still the Yanks. He’s still Dave Matthews…and even to a punker like me the dude is worth seeing. But it’s not new…it’s not evolving. 

Look, we have Judge. We do have great pitchers. And Dave has put out a new song here and there that is solid…but it’s touring the old stuff to let older-ish folks from the 90s feel like high school and college kids again. It’s not about winning new fans or bringing in a championship. The formula is there…so the dollars will follow…until they don’t. 

So, take these chances…place them in a box…until a quieter time…lights down you up and die.

I’ll always like Dave and his talented band. I will always love the New York Yankees…but the shows pale to the 90s versions.

--Mike O'Hara

Bleeding Yankee Blue Contributor

THE LOCKOUT IS LOOMING & A FAMILIAR FACE COULD TAKE CENTER STAGE IN NEGOTIATIONS!

Forget about the pit you feel in your stomach right now with Anthony Volpe back in the big leagues. It's about to get really real. The thrill of the regular season is still heating up, but the real drama is going to unfold off the field this winter. Buckle up, this is the start of a very long lockout with a twist that could come out of left field.

The season is still young, but we are already talking about the end of the season. The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expires December 1st and Major League Baseball and MLB Players Association (MLBPA) met face-to-face Tuesday to give opening presentations for negotiations, read more HERE.

The league will pursue both a salary cap AND a salary floor, something that players have firmly opposed, including Bryce Harper openly criticizing it most recently when he cursed out MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, check it out HERE.

Even though talks have started, progress on the proposals probably won't be significant until after the season ends. If an agreement can't be reached by March, schedule adjustments for 2027 will need to be made. In a lockout, no transactions can be made so that means no trades or free agent signings. I still remember the last lockout which was 99-days right on the heels of a pandemic. That irritated me beyond belief when Sonny Gray was whining like a baby about money while the rest of us were dealing with our own lockdowns and hardships. That was bad, this could be even worse. 

The anticipated lockout is only in talks, but it already has the attention of Congress. It is rumored that a lockout would cause an intervention from politicians and President Trump would be possible. The last thing I want is congress or the president meddling with America's favorite pastime, but it's possible that politics and baseball could collide in a new way.

In case you hadn't heard, one of my favorites Mark Teixeira is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Texas' 21st Congressional District in 2026. By the way Mike O'Hara....if you are out there buddy, LOOK Tex is relevant again unlike Greg Bird! Sorry, I couldn't resist the throwback to old times when we traded zingers. Anyway, Tex is a former member of the MLBPA's executive subcommittee so if he wins his race, he could play a pivotal role in negotiating a new deal. Interesting thought to see him go from one of the MLBPA members, to someone who could potentially bring both sides together in a different capacity.  

I've had several people tell me not to worry about this now because "It's too early" but this is going to be a negotiation unlike any other. Baseball as we know it could look VERY different here soon. Things are gonna get ugly....and this is just a warmup for what's to come.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

PLAY IT AGAIN, HAL

Are you listening to Brian Cashman’s end of the year presser? WHY?! Why do it again? It’s like the same awful Christmas sweater that you bought in a pinch 10 years ago to make it a friends Holiday Party! Now you keep dusting it off to re wear each year. Throw it away! Donate it to Goodwill! Better yet don’t go the the next “Bad Christmas Sweater” get together…those parties are worse than fruitcake.

The Yankees are now like that Christmas sweater in a way. Sure, they’re still the NEW YORK YANKEES. They are synonymous with big time sports like the Tree at Rock Center is with Christmas. But the magic is gone! It feels like the years after we were told Mom and Dad were Santa (Though I’m still investigating that one).

Who changed it all? Well, it seems to be the 3 UNWISE MEN! Hal isn’t a baseball man or a competitive titan like his father was. He is a silver spooned bank teller who reads from a Steinbrenner script…but he can’t sell it. George NEEDED to win. He believed he owed it to New York. Hal hears about all the subways in the city and probably thinks they just have a lot of low-rate, chain sandwich shops! He isn't NYC.

It's like that movie “Funny Bones” with Oliver Platt and Jerry Lewis. The great comedian and his unfunny son. “There are some that can read funny, and there are those with funny bones…you’re neither.” See it. It’s great and sums up the massive gap between “The Boss” and “The Bust”.

Cashman is a clown. He was the wunderkind under the Stick Michael regime and just a figure head while the Dynasty was playing and winning. Then he took the massive checkbook at his disposal and found a way to get it done in 2009…still with Mo, Jeter and company.

He constructs bad teams! He makes dumb moves. Sure, the sun shines on a dog’s ass now and then but…well hell, I'll just shout Ellsbury and leave it there! He is defiant every year when the press asks why the Yankees are a broken record of broken teams. He needs to go! FOR THE SAKE OF CHANGE!! They canned GI Joe Girardi and he was good! Cashman is like 10-week-old milk at this point. He stinks and you’ll get violently ill if you drink any of his nonsense. Hit the Deegan, Brian. You need to move on.

Then we have Boone. I like Aaron Boone. Had the chance to meet him a few times, He is genuine. He loves the game, and I KNOW he gets that he is the skipper of the greatest franchise in sports. He has been ok. Not great. Not the main reason they fall short. He’s been ok. But this is NEW YORK! Like Colin Quinn once said about New York audiences, “I don’t care if Jack Nicolson gets up on that stage…if he isn’t funny within the first 5 minutes he’s gonna get booed.” 

 

 

Boone is a nice guy…but my Uncle Jack is a nice guy, and he shouldn’t manage the Yanks either. I think Aaron would be better suited skippering the DBacks or Pads. He’s a So Cal guy and they can skate by with the laid back thing. NOT IN THE BRONX.

Sadly, ZERO will change. The great player we have…and we have 1…will be another year older and edging closer to the Pat Ewing, Charles Barkley club. Pitching is touch and go. Max is good, Cam could be great, and Cole is on a new elbow. They are selling a dream, and we haven’t shown interest in buying into it for years now.

Change is the only thing in life that is guaranteed…somehow the New York Yankee Brass is the exception to the rule. They won’t for yet another year. Firing a bullpen coach named Mike Harkey? He was the problem???

Look, I still believe in Santa. I stopped believing in the Yankees…and that is more of a kick in the head to my childhood than fading faith in a jolly elf from the North Pole, gang.

That's the bottom line.

--Mike O'Hara
BYB Contributor
Twitter: @mikeyoh21

WE AIN'T IN KANSAS ANYMORE SOTO!

Yes, here is another "typical Yankee fan" popping off about Juan Soto taking his big payday with the other ball club in Queens. 

No, I'm not running the Mets or their fans down. What bothers my about the Orange and Blue...and sometimes black team and their fans is that WE DON'T HATE THE METS! They want us to! 

They want us to hate them. They want a rivalry... but they, as Derek said, they're "just the Mets". They are the place holder wearing the colors of New York originals... THE BROOKLYN DODGERS and THE NEW YORK GIANTS. They will always be the "other team". 

Steve Cohen will never change that. Why? Because all the money in the world can't erase The Babe, The Mick, Joe D, The Iron Horse, Reggie, The Bronx Zoo, The 90s etc.  No, this isn't me holding onto the past either. IT'S JUST BASEBALL HISTORY, that's all, and there happens to be a lot of YANKEE BASEBALL in that proud story of the American Pastime. Full stop.

I'm glad for my pals that root for the Metropolitans. Truly. They have a great park over there. It's a quantum leap over the big "Ashtray near LaGuardia" as my Pop once called it. Yea... remember Shea Stadium? They have some great players these days and the Mets of the 1980s were fun to watch.

My issue is with guys like Barstool's KFC puffing his chest out on WFAN today saying, "NOBODY CARES ABOUT MONUMENT PARK AND THE PINSTRIPES ANYMORE!" Seems like Yankee fans live rent-free eating nothing but high scoring Portnoy Pizza's in Kev's head. Take your big-time player! Steve had the money, Soto has Boras and so it goes and so it goes. I enjoy KFC on the Barstool podcast, and know he's breaking balls, but the glee people get from the Yanks not signing someone outweighing the rush of getting a big bat like Juan is nuts.

Signing Soto would've been awesome for the Yankees. He seemed to like the Bronx, playing with #99 and the fans loved him...BUT it's a lousy move. It hamstrings you from getting anything else, even having Cohen's monopoly money. The luxury tax is heavy and buying all-star teams does not work.

We are so far gone on players and these contracts. 700 plus million? For a one ballplayer? Think on that. Yes, dollar amounts increase as time passes, but that is insane. Even if they do a little presto chango like Ohtani and backload it all...it still sucks. WE AS FANS END UP PAYING THE NOTE, GANG! Higher ticket prices. Higher concessions prices, Taking a family of 4 to a game? Call your bank and take out that second mortgage.

I don't blame the players. They take what is offered. If the owners put a cap on cash the Union will strike. Agents like Boras don't care about you and your love of the game. They don't. Juan Soto doesn't either. You cheering him as a Met or booing because he ain't a Yankee anymore makes NO difference to him. He is a hired gun. He NEVER claimed to be anything else.

Don't the Mets still own Bobby Bonilla? Baseball is a clown show of contracts these days. For every Juan Soto story we see flame outs, injuries... or they lose the hunger because they got all they wanted. S

Sickboy's line in Trainspotting - "First ya have it. Then you lose it. Then it's gone forever. In all walks of life." 

THIS WILL HAPPEN. The Mets just overpaid for a guy who is GREAT! He is a great ballplayer...but in 2 years he'll be really, really good. In 5 years he'll be a strong power hitter who will be a permanent DH. In 7 years, Mets fans will be calling into WFAN saying, "I said it then! We should never have given him that type of money! 15 years??"

Look, the Yankees have PLENTY of problems. I don't think much of the GM. The owner ain't his old man. The team has stars...and a lot of black holes too. The new stadium is a nice outdoor mall, and there are loud mouth Yankee fans spouting off with the sad, "27 championships, bro!" But they're still the Yankees for better or for worse. Steve Cohen and Juan Soto can't make them a lesser franchise in the world of sports or baseball lore any more than Rolling Stone could try to make the Beatles a lesser band. In short, some things just stay gold in this world. The New York Yankees were never about one player. They are, whether KFC and his ilk like it or not, what people think of when baseball is uttered - fan or not.

What Soto did was great for Soto, good for the Mets and lousy for baseball fans. It will keep pushing our game more and more out of reach. It's not because the slugger passed on the Yankees either. I feel the Yankees are culpable too. No organizations are innocent. No superstar player is either.

We always hear the cliche', "hey, it's a business." That may be true. It's a business for the owners and big-time players...but for us fans? We're outside looking in at a sign that reads : BASEBALL FANS NEED NOT APPLY.

A 90's song about greed ought to do it... Silverchair for the Golden Throne Juan Soto now sits on.

--Mike O'Hara

BYB Contributor

Twitter: @mikeyoh21

 

STANDARD OF THE OLD GUARD HAS FALLEN

It's one of my favorite movies in recent memory, and the reason is summed up in the dialog of one scene. "Whiplash" is truly outstanding. Even if you're not a musician, and can't read music any better than you can read ancient greek. The message is undeniable. Play to win!

The scene I refer to has Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons having a quiet drink in an East Village club and talking about Jazz legend Charlie Parker's rise to greatest. Simmons, truly one of the great actors ever, talks about how the phrase, "Good job." is the worst thing you can say to someone with talent. It means "ok". It means "fair". It means you wasted a chance to truly be great. I love that sentiment.

We have a similar sin being committed by the current regime heading up the New York Yankees, THE CHARLIE PARKER OF BASEBALL. When the late, great Boss was at the helm this past World Series fumble would have been might with a stool being flung at the heads of the GM, Manager, Star players etc... AND IT WOULD'VE BEEN THE RIGHT MOVE! Can you always win? No. Should you strive for that? YES! Especially when you have the talent to be great.

In recent years I've listened to Brian Cashman's monotoned excuse filled droning on sports talk radio. He loves to highlight numbers of wins, playoff appearances, signing this player or trading for that one. BUT he doesn't get it. He no longer has George holding his feet to the flame and demanding the best. No, he has Fredo Steinbrenner. The softer, kinder, gentler, zero baseball in his blood son of the MIGHTY BOSS running the show. He has allowed the "good job" mentality to drench the organization in mediocrity. Are the Yankees a good team...sure. Are they a great team? No.

Look, it's baseball. In the grand scheme of life, it's entertainment and we all need perspective before letting it ruin our day. But it does offer a lesson to us year in and year out. That's why sport is so relevant! It is the human spirit being pushed to be the best it can be! We unfortunately now live in a time when things are half measure. When being ok or showing up gets you a pat on the back. THE STANDARD OF THE OLD GUARD HAS FALLEN. The New York Yankees are an error filled 5th of that FACT.

What will change? Zero chance. It doesn't have to change. The money comes in. The Yankees are still the Beatles to fans across the world. The Jerseys will sell. The TV contracts will pay up. The hotdogs and beers will be a second mortgage at the Stadium...and being good enough...well, it'll just be good enough.

I know these aren't my Yankees. Mine started in the late '70s and ran through Jeter's last hurrah. When the Yankees were special to me. I still root for them. I think the world of Judge, Rizzo and some of the others...but they aren't a must see to me anymore. The sad thing is outside a select few...I don't see anyone who would watch that great seen from "Whiplash" and get the life changing message in it.

How haunting are Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel's lyrics now? And not just for Yankee fans...

"Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you..."

Band from Jersey singing for all that believe that "good job" is an awful thing to say to someone with the heart and talent to be great.

--Mike O'Hara

BYB Contributor

Twitter: @mikeyoh21

ROLLING OUT OLD YANKEES FROM YESTERYEAR WON'T CHANGE THE FACT THAT THE YANKEES STINK!

The Yankees are rolling the bones out yet again.  Old Timer's day is September 9th.  On that day, Derek Jeter will debut as an Old Timer for the New York Yankees.  Nice moment, but let's keep this real; in my opinion is might be the biggest game of distraction ever. 

Yankee Brass should be ashamed of themselves. THE YANKEES STILL STINK.  Sure, it's a moment to celebrate but give me a break.

Hey look, I’m not saying Jeets, Andy, Jorge, Mo, etc.… are in rascal scooters or in-home nurses in tow, asking, “When are my stories on?” No, I’m saying their GLORY DAYS have passed us by.  They were epic! They were legendary! They were truly a Dynasty. 

BUT HOW IN THE NAME OF VON HAYES DOES THIS ROSTER OF PINSTRIPE TITANS HELP THIS, to steal a line from Pop Fisher, DEAD TO THE NECK UP BALL CLUB?  Yankee Faithful, are we stupid? I’m asking if we are somehow now the biggest clown show fanbase in baseball? Serious question. 

For decades the Yankee Fan was dialed into the game and team like no other. Now, well in the front office’s view, we see something shiny and forget about everything else.  We’ve become Cubs fans from the early 90s. Get 12 Olde Styles at Wrigley, sing Take Me Out with Harry, stumble out of the Friendly Confines and hit The Cubbie Bear. It’s so bad in the Bronx these days.

So rather than putting any thought into the current team the Brass rolls out Yesteryear ONE MO' TIME! Like it’s a bad Skynyrd Cover band that plays FREE BIRD once to open, once to close and 4 times in the middle of the set! 

AM I ALONE HERE? I feel like Lewis Black at this point!  F*&^% EVERYTHING AND F&^% EVERYBODY!

deep breath…

I am just done watching the Yankees this year. I still love Judge, Schmidty, Cole and some of the other fellas, but this is just lousy baseball. The team is a badly run ship of misfitting pieces. It was built with massive holes in the hull. HOW CAN IT FLOAT? It can't.

So go watch the Old Timers Day game! Sure, Paulie, Jeets, Boomer, Coney, Mr. T, Mo! Yes, they'll all be there. Hell, you can then hit the Deegan and be home before the actual team gives up a five-run 3rd and meekly scratches across a run in an 8-1 loss.

I have to ask... WHERE HAVE YOU GONE STICK MICHAEL? THE YANKEE FAN TURNS THEIR LONELY EYES TO YOU!

Well, Cubs’ fans…er, I mean Yankee Fans…there’s always next year. At this point I’d take the four lads from Liverpool over DJ, Volpe, Torres and Rizzo.  Paul, John, George, Ringo…take it away. I too believe in Yesterday. Today? Nah. Tomorrow? I’ll get back to you at Mike Stanley Day at the Stadium next May.

--Mike O'Hara

BYB Contributor

Twitter: @mikeyoh21

THE FALL OF ROME?

It is just a fact of life. As “poetically illustrated” by Sick Boy in the cult classic Trainspotting; 

“First ya have it, then ya lose it…then it’s gone forever. All walks of life.”

Now Johnny Lee Miller (the actor that portrayed Sick Boy) was speaking about the career of Sean Connery, but the comparison can be made about the state of the New York Yankees as well. We are in the fall of Rome, gang. The Yanks are making the mistakes the once great empire made. They became lazy. They became complacent and uninspired. They lived off the glory of yesterday and thus lost the ability to fight for tomorrow. Sound familiar?

I’m a coach... one of my many hats. I work every day with outstanding student athletes looking to push themselves to new levels of strength and speed. It’s been amazing to see so many of them enjoy great successes. However, I always remind them to, “NEVER BUY A HOME IN YOUR COMFORT ZONE!” The Bronx Bombers have done just that! 

They are trying to stay the course in a game that has change so much since they last held the title of World Series Champions. Yankee Brass has made mistake after mistake, and they continue to speak down to the fan base; “We know what we’re doing.” 

CORRECTION! You KNEW what you were doing when then Stick Michael was at the wheel. Brian Cashman is not a great GM… never has been. That is a fact. He had a big checkbook and used it when the Boss allowed him too. The heart of his 2009 team was there and beating and Cash added some big free agent pieces to push the Yanks to number 27!  But let's face it. He hasn’t developed much… he hasn’t done much of anything. He does enough to keep his job. Hal ain’t George and Brian knows that.

The Great Emperor of the Bronx Coliseum is gone and like Commodus to George’s Marcus, Hal is weak and will skipper the fall of the Pinstripe Legion.

Everyone wants to hang this on Boone. It isn’t his fault in my opinion. However, I never thought he should’ve been named Manager and I like Boonie. The Yankees need a leader who knows how to make big contracts work like they are just up from the Bush Leagues! A baseball mind that knows intangibles! We had one in GI Joe in my opinion. Aaron is a great guy and was a heck of a ballplayer once upon a time, but now is the scapegoat and will be sent to fight gladiators to his demise! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!! We’ll watch the skipper get axed and NOTHING will change. NOTHING!! The fix is to allow it to fall and rebuild smarter, younger, faster!

The upside? Well, he patrols right field. There is a heart that has the same blood that pumped in the Dynasty years. #99 is a guy they can build from. He is a leader. He doesn’t like to lose. He takes guys under his immense wingspan. There are materials to get the Empire back to something we can cheer for. Will it happen? Your guess is as good as mine, folks. I know Cashman is dug in like a tick and Hal doesn’t know an ERA from an IRA. We will need new leadership, and at this point I’d let, THE YANKEE FAN SEATED IN SECTION 214, ROW J, SEAT 7 be the new GM. 

 Have a sense of humor…we’re gonna need it.

HEY! Eric Idle, take it away!

--Mike O'Hara

BYB Contributor

Twitter: @mikeyoh21

A YANKEES WINTER IS COMING...

Yep, it's an overly done and now dated cliche' "Game of Throne" reference.  I'm just now binge watching... so cut me a break. 

Years ago I wrote a post for BYB where I described walking the cold, gray streets of Manhattan a week after the holidays had officially ended. Trudging lonely sidewalks and passing the dead, discarded Christmas trees. There was just a heavy sense of sadness. Well damn it if I don't feel that way again... AND IT'S NOT EVEN THANKSGIVING YET!!

The Yankee offseason feels like those lonely, cheerless streets of the Big Apple post-12 Days of Christmas. The skeleton Christmas trees symbolizing the Dynasty Years. A time when being a New York Yankee was on every player's wish list...EVEN YOU, VLAD JR!! Ya mutt.

Now it doesn't feel that way, does it? It seems the Yankees have finally put on the leather jacket, trunks and water-skis and JUMPED THE SHARK! (cliche' #2 for ya'll). 

We will most likely lose Aaron Judge to a west coast team willing to pay him. Do I think he take the money over the pinstripe glory? YUP! I think he wants every nickel. I think he is done with Cashman and Co. I think he KNOWS this ship was built with a hole in it.  And, most importantly, I think he symbolizes the new feeling about the Bronx Bombers... they ain't the place to be anymore.

Once that happens the rest will follow suit. Even Anthony "Guys don't stay in the same place anymore" Rizzo is outta here. Why? Aaron Judge pulls a lot more weight in that current clubhouse than Jeter, Paulie, Mo, Andy, Jorge...or whatever Throwback Honoree they can roll out to make us remember when the Boss was at the helm and the Bronx was Burning with excitement.

The best thing about being a Yankee Fan in the George Days was that the team may have been business like - short haircut, no facial hair, no alternate uniforms, etc... BUT there was a PUNK ROCK heart.

The Boss didn't give a rat's ass what the world thought. He went out to get everything and everyone he could... the YANKEES were the F&^#*? YANKEES!!  Now it's... the Corporate Clown Show with his own son Hal as the ring leader. 

It sucks... We are Starbucks. We are a chain restaurant like Outback Steakhouse. Sure, there's steak and a bloomin' onion to hold you over, but it ain't the Old Homestead over on the westside is it?

We are in for a long, cold, joyless haul, gang. The team will try to re-sell Boone and Cashman's plan...peppered with things like Jim "THE KING" Leyritz Day ...but it won't take. They'll push HERE COMES VOLPE...but it'll be a while before we can see if AV is anything like DJ.

No, we're screwed. The bill for seemingly automatic, endless post season appearances built on the Stick Michael Model as come due. Our Fall from Grace with God (of baseball) will be violent and swift. Is it the post Mickey Mantle 1960s bad? No, it'll be worse.

I'm sorry to dump this one on ya, I really am. I could be wrong! I have been (Greg Bird) and will be again. But my gut says batten down the hatches, all hands to their stations, trim the main sail... the black clouds come rolling, weather charging like a nightmare...and it will be. We ain't the place to be anymore, folks.

Fall From Grace may have been a better title than the cliche' crap I chose. I'll let Shane O and the lad redeem me...

 

--Mike O'Hara

BYB Contributor

Twitter: @mikeyoh21