Welcome to Heaven, Gary Carter

One of my favorite memories of childhood with Master Bates.



It's a shame no one has put that home run with the TV call up on youtube because Steve Zabriskie punctuated it beautifully with, "Welcome to New York, Gary Carter."

Gary Carter, a true class act through and through.
The 86 Mets are obviously my favorite team of all-time and Carter was an integral part of that team. He got up with 2 outs in the 10th down 2 runs and started the Game 6 rally.
As I grew up and learned more about the jerks who were on the 86 team I learned that Carter was actually pretty hated by most of the other players. They though he was too clean, that he was putting on an act for the TV cameras, and that he was always talking with reporters so he could get more favorable coverage.
I think the truth is Carter was just a really nice guy who loved his wife and his kids, and on that team he was the oddball.
But in heaven, where Carter is going, there are plenty more like him.
And even when cancer had him down 2 runs, 2 strikes in the 10th inning of a World Series elimination game, Carter never gave up. But this time, he lost.

Song of the Week

"Domino" - Jessie J
Every once in a while I fall in love with some young bubblegum pop queen. I guess it brings out the kid in me.

Crack is Wack

The news shouldn't have come as a surprise but to many it did. Whitney Houston dead at the age of 48. An autopsy has yet to confirm it, but Houston may have drowned in the bathtub due to a combination of drugs and alcohol she had taken. For years Houston abused her body with drugs and it finally caught up to her.



While I feel badly for Whitney Houston, all that talent, all that money and unable to find happiness, I'm not saddened by her death. And I certainly don't consider it tragic. Her own horrible choices led her to this.

But unlike Michael Jackson, Houston hurt no one but herself, so it is a little less unseemly to celebrate her talents while mourning her passing.

Here is Houston at her best, in 1991 at the Super Bowl, singing the National Anthem:



And of course, we can always thank Houston for being the inspiration for this bit of classic comedy, from Randy Watson: