samhexum

YAWN! Another day, Another homer. 4 straight games (13 RBI). If he hits one every game for the rest of the season, he'll break the record of 8 straight games by Dale Long, Mattingly, & Griffey , Jr. Votto almost tied it earlier this season, but in the 8th game he hit a double a foot from the top of the wall. 19 HR, 50 RBI last 49 games. And Baltimore beat the Red Sox. Oh, and the Cardinals won again.

There is no cast set but the new season is expected to feature beloved characters from the original series, with Sam Waterson’s Jack McCoy believed to be at the top of the wish list. The producers from Universal Television and Wolf Entertainment are expected to reach out to former cast member shortly about coming back. Some Law & Order stars are currently in the Wolf Entertainment/Uni TV fold, including S. Epatha Merkerson on Chicago Med and Alana De La Garza on FBI. Law & Order, which launched the biggest procedural franchise on TV, was on the cusp of breaking Gunsmoke’s record as the longest running primetime drama ever when NBC in May 2010 unceremoniously canceled the series without a proper finale when renewal negotiations fell through. While Law & Order creator Wolf got to set a new record for the longest-running drama series with spinoff Law & Order: SVU, now in its 23rd season, he always felt he had unfinished business with the mothership series ending the way it did. “There are very few things in life that are literally dreams come true. This is mine,” he said about the Season 21 order. There were rumblings about a potential Law & Order revival back in the spring, with feelers sent out to several original cast members. NBC ended up greenlighting a new Law & Order series instead, legal drama Law & Order: For the Defense. The network and Wolf eventually opted not to go forward with the new show, which had been scheduled for fall as part of a Law & Order Thursday lineup alongside SVU and L&O: Most Wanted. Shortly after news broke in July about For the Defense‘s cancellation, chatter shifted again to a revival of the mothership series. Wolf has tasked one of his most trusted lieutenants, Eid, with writing the new installment and serving as showrunner. Eid, a Law & Order, L&O: SVU and L&O: Trial By Jury alum, is showrunner on two Wolf series, FBI and Chicago P.D. Wolf and Eid executive produce the new season with Wolf Entertainment’s Arthur Forney and Peter Jankowski. “Law & Order is quite simply one of the most iconic shows in television history, and the idea of continuing its legacy and partnering with Dick on an all-new season is nothing short of exhilarating” said Susan Rovner, Chairman, Entertainment Content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, “This is great news for NBC as well as TV fans everywhere.” No premiere date for the new season has been set, and it’s unclear whether the show will be ready for midseason. The series, produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, in association with Wolf Entertainment, would presumably be slotted alongside SVU and Most Wanted for a Law & Order Thursday lineup to go along with Wolf’s FBI Tuesday on CBS and One Chicago Wednesday on NBC. “The return of the flagship Law & Order series for a pivotal 21st season is a proud moment for Dick and a proud moment for us, his studio partners,” said Pearlena Igbokwe, Chairman, Universal Studio Group. The original series was nominated for more than 50 Emmy Awards and won in 1997 for Outstanding Drama Series.

Kellan Lutz, an original cast member of FBI: Most Wanted, has officially acknowleged he’s leaving the police procedural. After last night’s Season 3 premiere – actually Part 2 of a three-part crossover with FBI and its new spinoff, FBI: International – Lutz took to Instagram with a lengthy post. He played Agent Crosby on the show, a drama focusing on the Fugitive Task Force of the bureau. His character’s exit was a key part of the premiere. Agent Crosby was assisting Missy Peregrym’s Special Agent Maggie Bell in last night’s show. During the action, a veteran who had served alongside Crosby in the Army shot him, requiring immediate surgery. That left the agent a farewell with the door slightly ajar, as the show portrayed him returning home to his parents in Oklahoma to recuperate. In real life, Lutz said that the heartbreak of losing his first-born daughter in 2020 and other factors led to his departure. “What a night! And yes, you saw that correctly, Crosby won’t be chasing down any bad guys for a little while,” Lutz wrote. “2020 was a lot for everyone to say the least. For me it started with losing my first daughter, then nearly my wife, and both grandfathers among other things, all in the middle of a global pandemic on the opposite side of the country from my family, friends, and entire support system.” He went on to say that “After a lot of prayer and reflection, I made the difficult decision to move my growing family back to CA so our daughter could grow up with her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, just a short drive away.” The FBI: Most Wanted series films mostly in New York’s Westchester and Rockland counties. Lutz thanked series creator Dick Wolf, the network, UniversalTV and his cast and crew. “One thing that I kept hearing over and over when I booked this job was how much of a family Dick Wolf shows are, and that couldn’t be more accurate. They’ve supported me in the lows and celebrated with me in the highs and I will forever be grateful for everything they’ve done for me. “I will miss the show, my costars, production, and most importantly my character Kenny Crosby, who is named after one of the grandfathers I lost earlier this year, but I have so much peace knowing I made the right decision for my family. “I hope Crosby is able to pop in and out here and there in the future but for now- Crosby-over and out. 💪🙏♥️🙌😎 Much love to all you amazing fans!!!!

The plot thickens...

Christian mom group livid over swear words in Burger King’s new meals Burger King recently rolled out a new marketing campaign where the target audience was depressed teens. An apparent play on the McDonald’s “Happy Meal,” the campaign includes colored “Real Meal” boxes with names like “Salty Meal,” as well as “Yaaaas Meal,” along with “P*ssed Meal,” and “DGAF Meal.” “No one is ‘Happy’ all the time,” Burger King said in a press release.” “Burger King is mocking McDonald’s Happy Meals with a little competition. Yesterday, Burger King announced new meal boxes that “let you choose how you feel.” “Dubbed as “Real Meals,” customers will be able to order Whopper-based meal boxes in a variety of different moods, but “happy” isn’t one of them.” And now — a group of concerned Christian mothers by the name of One Million Moms — has raised an alarm about the campaign. Currently, the campaign has over 5,000 signatures with moms describing the boxes as ” a marketing disaster,” citing their “crude language,” and urged Burger King to remove both the “p*ssed” and “DGAF” boxes immediately. The campaign states on their website: “Though the Real Meals are Whopper-based meals, the boxes are replicas of Happy Meal boxes and will, therefore, attract children. No matter the target market, this campaign is a marketing disaster.” “Similar to the Angry Whopper, Real Meals are available only at select restaurants while supplies last. Even if your local Burger King is not participating at this time, your voice needs to be heard so this vulgar marketing will be stopped and not added at additional locations.” “Burger King’s #FEELYOURWAY campaign is irresponsible and offensive to customers. Burger King needs to know parents do not approve!” The group then urged others to sign the petition, stating: “If you agree that this marketing campaign is inappropriate, please sign our petition urging Burger King to remove the boxed meals “P*ssed” and “DGAF” from their menu immediately. Let them hear from you even if your local Burger King is not participating at this time. This is a nationwide petition. Also, encourage Burger King to be more responsible in future marketing campaigns. If Burger King wants our business, it must stop using crude language.” If choosing to sign the petition, the pre-typed message reads: “I find Burger King’s #FEELYOURWAY campaign to be in poor taste. Everyone knows children repeat what they hear. Burger King using crude language to sell burgers is irresponsible. One Million Moms is particularly offended by the two boxed meals “P*ssed” and “DGAF.” Offensive ads cause customers to lose respect for a company, and complaints should not be taken lightly. I urge Burger King to put a stop to inappropriate marketing campaigns and remove the boxed meals “P*ssed” and “DGAF” from your menu immediately. I will not patronize your restaurants as long as you use vulgar language to market your products.”

I love that ad, as I've previously posted: https://www.companyofmen.org/topic/89509-tv-ads-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly/page/3/?tab=comments#comment-1890342

Giannis Antetokounmpo not satisfied after winning NBA championship: 'I feel the same weight' acebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email print MILWAUKEE -- It's been a little more than two months since the Milwaukee Bucks won the 2020-21 NBA championship, but star Giannis Antetokounmpo still wants to maintain the chip on his shoulder that helped bring them that title. "Are we satisfied? I'm not satisfied. I'm not even close to being satisfied," Antetokounmpo said at his season-opening news conference Monday. "That's the tone we got to set as a team. As the leader of this team, that's the tone I'm going to set. We understand that teams are coming for us, but we're going to be ready." Antetokounmpo expressed a similar refrain along with the rest of his Bucks teammates. They will open training camp this week ready to turn the page from last season and focus on defending the franchise's first title since the 1970-71 season. So while Antetokounmpo spoke fondly about bringing the Larry O'Brien trophy home the night after the NBA Finals, carrying it through the drive thru at Chick-Fil-A and taking it with him to Greece this summer, he didn't want to spend much time Monday afternoon focusing on last season. "Right now what I want is to get better," he said. "I don't care about trophies. I don't care about the MVPs. I don't care about Defensive Player of the Years. All those things, I don't care. I care about getting better because if I do that more things are coming. "That's what I've done my whole career and that's how I am in this position. So, there's no weight off my shoulder, I feel the same weight. I enjoy, obviously, that we're the champions, but the weight is the same. Get better." Perhaps that is the most intriguing prospect for the Bucks and Antetokounmpo heading into the season: the obvious ways they can still improve. Already a two-time MVP and Finals MVP, Antetokounmpo became animated when talking about building off his performance in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, especially when he knocked down 17 of his 19 free throws to help seal the win. "Life would be good if I could do that," he said with a laugh. He also pointed to his five blocks in the Finals clincher and said he wants to try and maintain that effort level on defense on every possession this year. "I want to make free throws, I have to make free throws," Antetokounmpo said. "In order for us to win that game, I had to make free throws, and there's going to be a lot of big games where I have to make free throws. I have to get better in that area. If I could take one thing from that game, it's probably that and the blocked shots. I was chasing everything." Antetokounmpo pointed to the ways in which some of the great players in NBA history have continued to "flip the script" as he put it, casting themselves as the underdog. Whether it be Shaquille O'Neal using an imagined slight by David Robinson as motivation to dominate the Spurs whenever he got the chance to play against him (O'Neal later apologized for making up the story) or the plethora of things Michael Jordan "took personally," Antetokounmpo has taken note of the ways the greats have continued to stay motivated. "We know we were the 2021 NBA champs, but right now we're just the Milwaukee Bucks again that nobody believes in us," he said. "And nobody believes that we can do it again."

NYC Parks announces $21 million to develop Gwen Ifill Park in Jamaica The city announced a $21 million allocation from Mayor Bill de Blasio to develop Gwen Ifill Park into a community green space in Jamaica. Located in the legendary newswoman’s childhood neighborhood, the park is one of 28 park spaces recently named in honor of the Black experience in New York City. A community scoping meeting was recently held with southeast Queens residents to officially kick off the design phase of the project. Participants were encouraged to share their vision for the site, identify desired amenities, and discuss programming preferences. NYC Parks’ Community Input Meetings are designed to provide residents an understanding of how the planning process can help public spaces better serve surrounding neighborhoods. “Thanks to Mayor de Blasio, we will be able to create a beautiful new park for fitness, recreation and respite,” NYC Parks Acting Commissioner Margaret Nelson said. “Upon completion, the new Gwen Ifill Park will serve as a place of remembrance of her incredible talents and leadership in the field of journalism.” Ifill was born and raised in Jamaica and was a leading journalist, television broadcaster and author. She was the first African-American woman to anchor a nationally televised U.S. public affairs program, “Washington Week in Review.” Later, she quo-anchored “PBS NewsHour.” “Gwen Ifill was a favorite daughter of Queens, and her many accomplishments in journalism show us there are no limits to what we can achieve,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said. “This $21 million project to develop Gwen Ifill Park will turn it into a neighborhood jewel that will greatly benefit the people of southeast Queens and do justice to Gwen’s memory. Thank you to Mayor de Blasio for allocating this funding, which will help ensure that Gwen’s legacy of journalistic excellence will never be forgotten.” The former Railroad Park took its name from the LIRR whose tracks form the area’s southwest boundary. In 1962, the city of New York acquired the property from the Rochdale village limited-profit housing project and expanded the site through land acquired through condemnation the following year. Community advocates including The Railroad Park Garden Club and the local Boy Scout troop often work together to assist Parks in the landscaping of the green space. Both groups work to raise awareness within the community of the park’s ecological benefits and natural resources. Last June, NYC Parks pledged to continue to demonstrate how it stands in solidarity with the Black community in its fight to combat systemic racism. Since then, the agency has named 28 park spaces, including Gwen Ifill Park, in honor of the Black experience to help acknowledge the legacies of these Black Americans, encourage discourse about their contributions, and work to make the park system more diverse and reflective of the people it serves. “We are incredibly excited for this investment in Gwen Ifill Park and thank Mayor de Blasio for his support of southeast Queens green space and infrastructure,” Councilman I. Daneek Miller said. “In the past two years alone, we have been able to allocate nearly $130 million to local parks and recreation, a great benefit to the physical and mental health of district residents. We look forward to discourse and engagement with the community as feedback is collected and this project moves forward.”

A new urban farm on Eastern Parkway hopes to transform a long-vacant lot into a solution for Brooklynites living in the borough's food deserts. The Eastern Parkway Farm — opened by Bed-Stuy based food pantry The Campaign Against Hunger — will open next week in a property on the Crown Heights and Brownsville border that had previously stood empty for 30 years. The space is the organization's latest project aimed at bringing nutrient-rich foods to communities often deprived of healthy options. It is the fifth urban farm space run by TCAH. "The Campaign Against Hunger is committed to infusing heart-healthy fruits and vegetables into communities that are far too often overlooked and starved of affordable, nutritious food options," said CEO Dr. Melony Samuels. "The opening of Eastern Parkway Farm is just the most recent example of our work to advance food justice." The newest farm, found at 1420 Eastern Pkwy., has been in the works for six months with the help of TCAH's farm department, volunteers and Green Teens, a group of local youth trained in urban farming. It includes 5,000 square feet of space leased through the city's Department of Housing, Preservation & Development and will be farmed using all-natural production methods, according to TCAH. Neighbors will find fresh produce like kale, summer squash, red cabbage, chard and raddish in the lot, according to the organization. The Eastern Parkway Farm is the latest project for TCAH, whose demand increased six-fold during the coronavirus crisis. The organization has also opened a community food distribution center in East New York this year after leaving an emergency warehouse it set up with Broadway Stages in March 2020. The Campaign Against Hunger has provided food for more than 25 million meals since the pandemic began.

Giancarlo Stanton has turned boos into blasts with the New York Yankeesplay Giancarlo Stanton unloads on a 448-foot home run in the eighth inning vs. the Red Sox. (0:22) 7:00 AM ET Buster OlneyESPN Senior Writer Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email print His feet settled in the right-handed batter's box at Fenway on Saturday night, Giancarlo Stanton dropped his chin slightly, as he does before each pitch, to narrow his field of vision. With his head tilted in this way, there is only a sliver of space between the bill of his lowered batting helmet and the curl of protective gear that covers his left cheekbone, and through this, Stanton focuses on the pitcher. Like staring at the moon through a telescope. In that moment, Boston's Darwinzon Hernandez tried to sneak a fastball past him to escape with Strike 1, but Stanton did not miss. As he recoiled and dropped the bat, the baseball had easily cleared the Green Monster in left-center field, and a fragile Red Sox lead was wrecked. Stanton's grand slam was the pivot point of the Yankees' three-game sweep at Fenway Park over the weekend, and, Aaron Boone said, the preeminent regular-season moment of the manager's tenure in its importance and emotion. Stanton also homered on Friday and on Sunday, three homers in three games, with 10 RBIs, hoisting the Yankees into the lead of the American League wild-card race. "It's go time," Stanton said right after the sweep. "This is what it's all about, this is the most important time, and I'm glad things are clicking." In 48 games since Aug. 3, Stanton has 18 homers and 47 RBIs, with a .320 batting average and an OPS of 1.024. He is healthy, a state that has been elusive in a lot of his time with the Yankees, and his physical well-being has seemingly melded with the experience and knowledge and useful emotional scar tissue Stanton has gleaned during his years in New York. Others in the organization have come to deeply appreciate his resilience, in the face of the negative feedback he has received from home fans throughout his time with the Yankees. He has been a lightning rod of ire for Yankee Stadium fans, a natural role for just about all of the superstars who come to New York from other teams. Reggie Jackson, Roger Clemens, Jason Giambi, Randy Johnson and Alex Rodriguez were all extraordinary players, and they and others like them were booed after moving to the Bronx, almost inevitably, when they had moments when they failed to meet the expectations of the moment. Before Sunday night's game, Rodriguez stood near the batting cage and recalled how stark those moments could be, when writers descended upon you after a lousy game to ask you how you felt about how lousy you played. But Stanton seems to have processed this all in a productive way. In his first home game with the Yankees, he struck out five times, and the boos that emanated from the stands seemed to grow exponentially with each plate appearance. Jason Zillo, the longtime head of media relations with the Yankees, had spoken to Stanton about how to handle questions from the New York media, giving the same sort of advice he has given for years. Be available, be accountable, don't lie. It's better to not answer a question than to lie. But Zillo knew from decades of experience that no matter how much counsel you offer, you never truly know how a player will respond to booing and criticism until the player actually goes through it. That first day at Yankee Stadium, Stanton answered the questions, accepted responsibility. In the last day of that very homestand, Stanton had another five-strikeout game. The boos were even more intense. The Yankees were about to depart on a long road trip, and Zillo had seen other players escape postgame media access by showering quickly and getting out of the clubhouse. Not Stanton. Again, he answered questions, and for Zillo, these were the first indications of how Stanton might respond to the pressure. Stanton could hit two homers in a game on a Monday and if he takes a bad swing in his first at-bat the next day for a strikeout, he'll get booed. He could be great for a month and have a bad day, and he'll get booed. What Boone believes is that through this, Stanton has recognized the booing as essentially a superficial response without lasting meaning. Momentary unhappiness easily overturned. That understanding has seemingly allowed Stanton to turn his attention to what truly matters: his preparation, his execution. "The more you watch him, the more impressed you are by him," said Brian Cashman, the Yankees general manager, recounting how Stanton has gone about his work diligently, how he carries himself around teammates -- including that day, in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, when Stanton stood up in front of teammates and spoke so thoughtfully and passionately. "Just a quality person, very strong," said Cashman. Before the Yankees acquired Stanton from the Miami Marlins, he turned down a possible trade to the St. Louis Cardinals and fended off other possibilities through the use of his no-trade clause. He fostered the eventual deal to the Yankees, embraced it, and Cashman believes that part of the reason Stanton has responded so stoically to booing is his personal accountability -- he knows he helped to make the deal to the Yankees happen. He wanted it. "He's always been that way," said Cashman. "He could've stayed in Florida, but he wanted bigger and better. He wanted to run to New York. There's a tax consequence for him to play here, but he's going to take the bad with the good. He's not going to run and hide." Stanton stopped to yell at Francisco Lindor during a home-run trot on Sept. 12, with the benches emptying, and other Yankees believe the foundational sentiment underneath Stanton's words was a response to Lindor's conduct in his first year in New York. The Mets shortstop signed a 10-year, $341 million contract in spring training and has struggled to meet expectations. Like Stanton, he has been booed regularly in his home ballpark. In one stretch of games, he and a small handful of teammates gave a thumbs-down gesture that was their way of protesting the booing. Lindor had a great night against the Yankees two Sundays ago, with three homers, but he had screamed at the Yankees players about what he perceived as strategic whistling. To some of the Yankees, Lindor completely overreacted in the midst of his difficult season and took it out on them, and Stanton -- who knows all about booing and New York scar tissue -- delivered a message: Pipe down and handle it better. That Stanton home run against the Mets was the first of eight he has hit in the last 14 games, a burst of offense that has pulled the Yankees from the edge of extinction. Boone said: "He's a unicorn. Every game, he does something and [hitting coach] Marcus Thames and I look at each like, 'Wow.'" Like that home run he hit at Yankee Stadium against the Rangers last week, a 118.5 mph line drive that looked like a golf ball clipped cleanly with a 2-iron, the arc never exceeding 50 feet, according to the Statcast data. Nobody else in baseball has that club, Boone said. Like the time he broke his bat and the barrel whirled with such force that it landed on the netting behind home plate. Like the home run he smashed against Hernandez, the grand slam that might be remembered as the Yankees' launch pad into the 2021 playoffs. Before that game, Stanton paused after finishing batting practice and explained why he tilts the bill of his helmet downward. It's not as if he trying to stare down the pitcher, to lock in on some part of the delivery. What he is trying to do is to block out everything around the pitcher. "Like COVID times," said Stanton referring to the time when the ballparks were empty. "Block out the crowd. It's just me and the pitcher." On Sunday night, the pitcher was Adam Ottavino, a former teammate who had seen Stanton demolish Hernandez's fastball on Saturday. Ottavino spun a slider that drifted into the middle of the plate. Stanton blasted the pitch beyond the Green Monster, on a trajectory similar to his Saturday grand slam. He stood at home plate for a moment, watching the ball disappear, before turning and flipping his bat toward the Yankees dugout, his weekend of destruction complete.

The secret behind the New York Yankees' playoff push is ... a new pet? Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email print BOSTON WAS BEAUTIFUL on Saturday. Warm. Breezy. A little after noon, a yellow luxury coach bus idled outside the front entrance of the Four Seasons Hotel. A small crowd gathered behind a metal fence. It was all very standard. The autograph hunters with their bags of jerseys and cards. A couple of college-age fans who shouted out their love for the team. A pair of women with New York Yankees T-shirts. The Yankees players trickled out slowly. Giancarlo Stanton. Aaron Judge. Gerrit Cole. Nestor Cortes was the only one to stop to sign anything, and he only did so after chiding one of the regulars for a posting a mean-spirited Instagram message. As a man and a little girl walked by, the man pointed to the players climbing onto the bus. "Look at those Yankees," he said, and the little girl stopped. She stared for a moment at the big bus and the big players. And then, in the matter-of-fact tone only an adorable child can produce, she asked the same question that New York fans have been asking each other, over and over, for months. "Daddy," she said, "Who are those Yankees?" THE ANSWER TO that little girl, as any exhausted Yankees fan will surely tell you, has ranged widely during this gloriously maddening, maddeningly glorious season. There have been separate stretches where the Yankees have lost 10 out of 15 games or 13 out of 18 or 13 out of 20, as well as other stretches where they have won 23 out of 32 or 13 in a row or 43 out of 63. These Yankees are everything: a juggernaut or a disgrace; world-beaters or a team that couldn't get a hit off a high schooler. Because of their violent fluctuations, all the labels have felt valid. With only six games remaining in this season, however, here is a previously unknown story that might offer a new potential identity: A little more than a week ago, the Yankees got a pet. Was the secret to the Yankees' recent win streak ... Nestor Cortes adopting a turtle from a pet store? Pandemic puppies are on trend, but Cortes, the Cuban lefthander who played for the Yankees in 2019 and rejoined them this season, led a group of players who were interested in becoming animal owners in a different way. Specifically, they wanted a turtle. After some discussion, a small (and, it must be said, very cute) turtle was acquired from a neighborhood pet store. The players were elated. The turtle's name is Bronxie, an ode to its home borough, and it lives a comfortable life. It wiles away most of its hours in a tank with a piece of tape labeled "Bronxie the Turtle" on it. It is well-fed. At times, it even roams freely, crawling among the white, interlocking-NYs on the blue clubhouse carpet. The Yankees famously do not have an organizational mascot, but Bronxie has been immediately embraced. Cortes is very much a proud papa, but others, including DJ LeMahieu -- who is said to just enjoy staring at Bronxie -- are involved and engaged caretakers, as well. This week, Bronxie made his first road trip, joining the team in Boston. Bronxie, seen in the Yankees clubhouse, has been a "lucky charm" on the team's recent win streak, Brett Gardner says. "There is a lot of love," Yankees veteran outfielder Brett Gardner told me, adding, "Everyone is also very aware of what's happening lately." Gardner, of course, was referring to New York's performance since Bronxie's adoption: a three-game sweep of the Texas Rangers; a three-game sweep of the Red Sox, including a dramatic eighth-inning comeback on Sunday night; and a critical move from a place outside the American League's second wild-card spot to a position squarely in the mix for the first one, as the Yankees begin their final six games against the Toronto Blue Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays. "Lucky charm, whatever you want to call it; I know a lot of guys believe there's a connection here," Gardner said before Sunday's game. "At the end of it, it would be great if we could go out and get him a little World Series ring." He smiled and jogged out to join his teammates. Who are those Yankees? Maybe they are Bronxie's team. ALTHOUGH THIS SEASON has brought the topic into sharper focus than ever before, the question of identity is one that has lingered over the Yankees for some time. The last championship dynasty (Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and others) ended two decades ago, but for many, the larger philosophical sentiment underpinning those Yankees teams, and really all Yankees teams under George Steinbrenner, persists. The Yankees are the best, that thinking goes. So, they buy the best players, use those players to put together the best teams and, because of all that, should win the World Series all the time. Michael Kay, who does play-by-play of the Yankees games on television and also hosts a weekday radio show in which he often takes calls from fans, said he calls this phenomenon "the Steinbrenner-ization of a generation." "That's what George sold them," Kay said. "And so, those fans who still want that to be the case have been miserable since 2009." (That year, the Yankees spent more than $400 million on CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira in the offseason before winning the franchise's 27th title.) In truth, Kay continued, the Yankees under Steinbrenner's son, Hal, are different. "George fired Yogi Berra 16 games into the season, so this year, at 41-41, I don't think there's any chance George wouldn't have fired Aaron Boone," Kay said, adding that baseball, as a sport, has caught up anyway. The rise of analytics-based player evaluation has allowed a team like the Rays, currently in first place in the AL East and eight games ahead of the Yankees, to have an objectively deeper team than the Yankees despite having a payroll that is $130 million smaller. For an ever-growing segment of Yankees fans, as well as a significant part of the Yankees organization, that model -- the Rays' bargain-hunting brilliance -- is aspirational as well as, it sure seems, quite a bit more fun. Who doesn't prefer diamonds found to diamonds bought? But there isn't anything close to unanimity on that kind of seismic shift, within or outside the team, and so a schism has developed that makes years like this one even more complicated. When the Yankees thrive, is it because of their high-priced stars performing? Or because of canny decision-making from the manager or the front office? And when they swoon, is it because general manager Brian Cashman pushes the team to rely too much on analytics? Or not enough? As the Yankees pull out of another swoon in a roller-coaster season, DJ LeMahieu described it as such: "The story of our season is getting punched in the face and coming back." At the center of it is Boone, the former Yankee who had his own indelible moment at Fenway Park Yankee Stadium with that AL Championship Series-winning home run in 2003. Boone is as warm and thoughtful as he was in his playing days, and he remains the epitome of the old-school ballplayer. He comes from a baseball family. He essentially grew up around major league clubhouses before playing 13 big league seasons himself, and he largely presents in that classic mold. He defends his players and their ability to perform to the point of occasional absurdity. He is relentlessly positive. He does not have a problem relying on a series of well-worn clichés ("Every game is important," "I believe in my guys") in his daily interactions with the beat reporters. Boone has tried to engage with the injection of analytics that Cashman has brought to the club through assistant GM Michael Fishman, but it is clearly not his natural inclination. His coaching staff is a mix of old-school and numbers-rooted coaches, and he is a frequent target for complaints about his inconsistency in the cacophonous multiverse that is Yankees fans on the internet. (Sunday's decision to remove reliever Clay Holmes after one inning, in which Holmes struck out the side, was just the latest example.) Boone's steadfast commitment to remaining unruffled can give him an at-times pained look on the bench, but Kay said he sensed a visceral difference in Boone for a few weeks back in August. Yes, it was during one of the Yankees' best stretches this summer, but it wasn't simply because they were winning, either, Kay said. It had just as much to do with the fact that the Yankees, due to injuries and COVID-19 protocols, were forced to play lesser-known players such as Greg Allen and Andrew Velazquez and Kyle Higashioka. Not coincidentally, their style shifted, as well. Suddenly, the Yankees' baserunning was more aggressive. There were more steals. There was more hitting-and-running and fewer double plays. The Yankees were more assertive; they didn't simply wait for analytics' lasting contributions to the recent game -- a walk, a strikeout or a home run. That kind of play (and those kind of players), the numbers tell us, is not necessarily as reliably effective. But that does not mean it isn't engaging. "I think if you injected him with truth serum, Boone would say that was the most fun he had this season," Kay said. "He was managing the team like it was a team from before analytics existed." CASEY STENGEL ONCE said that "managing is getting paid for home runs someone else hits," and while that is assuredly true (whether you're Boone, Tony La Russa or anyone else), it also undersells the personal component of what modern sports leadership requires. Whatever one thinks of Boone's baseball acumen, there is no denying that a significant part of his responsibility lies in motivating his players. It is his job to create an environment in which the players believe -- regardless of whatever just happened -- that another success is attainable. This task, which is inevitably heightened in the pressure cooker that is playing in New York, is something Boone made a significant part of his team talk on the first day of spring training. "I wanted them to be clear about it right away," he told me in Boston. "I said it straight: 'There is adversity coming for you.' Because there always is. It isn't about if; it's when. And I wanted them to know I would support them when it happened." Boone, admittedly, didn't necessarily foresee a season with so many extremes -- the Yankees went from preseason title favorites to underwhelming and possibly out of contention to now back to a dangerous postseason pick -- but while one could look at the Yankees' season as a series of disappointing inconsistencies, another interpretation is to see it as one of perpetual redemptions. Or as LeMahieu put it: "The story of our season is getting punched in the face and coming back." What story will be told about the 2021 Yankees remains to be seen -- but a sweep against the Red Sox in the two teams' final meeting of the season doesn't hurt. The Yankees' ability to plow on is remarkable enough, but to go one layer deeper, it is their unshaking belief that they'll be able to plow on that feels like it could be special. On Saturday, trailing the Red Sox by a run with two outs in the eighth inning, Stanton stood in the on-deck circle at Fenway as Boston lefty Darwinzon Hernandez tried to retire Anthony Rizzo to end the inning. As he watched, Stanton had one thought: "They better get Rizz." When Hernandez didn't (he hit Rizzo to load the bases), Stanton strode to the plate and obliterated the first pitch he saw, rocketing the ball into the night sky for a grand slam that pushed the Yankees to an unlikely victory and made the summer slogs feel that much farther away. Will those moments continue? Will that energy always be there? Or to put it another way, who are those Yankees? As Gardner said when I asked him the question the next afternoon, "Well ... that's still to be determined, isn't it?" And it is. On Sunday, Stanton homered again and the Yankees came back again. And that is, in the end, what will push the Yankees as far as they can go. They will need to mash. And pitch. And take the opportunities when they are right there in front of them. They will need Stanton. And Judge. And Cole, who pitched well in Friday's win. And Gardner. And the bullpen guys. And yes, maybe even Bronxie. There are six games left in this serpentine season, and there was some serious discussion about what to do with Bronxie as the series in Boston neared its end. Travel is tricky for a turtle, so the question was asked: Should Bronxie go on to Toronto with the team? Or perhaps head back to New York and his more familiar surroundings? There was talk. And debate. And then the Yankees completed their rally, and Bronxie's record moved to a perfect 6-0, and the answer, to everyone, was obvious. Bronxie is in Toronto. Neither he, nor the Yankees, are going anywhere.

the last 14 runs he has scored have been on his homers. The last time he scored any other way was August 21st (my & Jeff Stryker's 59th birthday). Yes, that's 14 homers in 5 weeks. He vetoed that possibility when the Marlins were looking to trade him.

I watched Thursday's 2 episodes on PEACOCK Saturday morning and NO COMMERCIALS! I believe that service is free, so you should try watching it there.

There was never a major league player with the first name TYLER before 1993. Now there have been about 50, the cutest one being Tyler Wade of the Yankees BTW, the Yanks have a minor leaguer named Tyler HARDman.

She has, he hasn't. I don't believe he ever got a nomination, though he should have for the 10th season episode with Ellen Burstyn as his mother. (the best episode the show ever had) I believe she'll be making an appearance this year on his show. I may have mentioned this before, but Elliot has half-siblings he may not even know about. Bonnie Plunkett (Allison Janney on MOM) and her gay, black half-brother Ray had a mother named Shirley STABLER, who was played by Ellen Burstyn.

Giancarlo Stanton can carry a team like almost nobody else when he's going well. I was looking at his game log and noticed something weird... the last 13 runs he has scored have been on his homers. The last time he scored any other way was August 21st (my & Jeff Stryker's 59th birthday).

You should put that on a bumper sticker. I'd buy one.

I'd say they should compromise and stipulate that a small section of the property should be set aside for a memorial, but who's going to buy a luxury condo that's the site of such a thing? (Not to mention all the people who would show up periodically to grieve, especially on the anniversary of the collapse)

Bill Gates has been hyping the technology to turn piss into drinkable water. Are you a hippie or a commie, or both? Spoken (actually typed) like a true American!

They've been playing Lars Nootbaar in right field. Wasn't he married to Phyllis on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW?

The Whoopster has signed on for four more years.

I just did a search and couldn't find one mention of the subject. That seems odd. A billionaire real estate developer from the MIddle East is bidding $120 million for the two-acre oceanfront site where a Florida condo collapsed in the middle of the night in June, killing 98 people. East Oceanside Development, owned by Dubai-based DAMAC Properties, a publicly traded company in the United Arab Emirates founded by wealthy businessman Hussain Sajwani, has agreed to bid $120 million for the Surfside property, The Miami Herald reported, citing a court document filed Friday. The 12-story Champlain Towers South partially collapsed June 24. The rest of the 136-unit condominium complex was brought down July 4 as rescue workers combed through the rubble searching first for survivors, then for the remains of the victims. A luxury high-rise condo is expected to eventually go up at the site. The developer’s bid is considered a “stalking horse,” which sets a minimum price for the property. The Real Deal reported other companies will be able to submit offers at an auction expected to occur in late February or March. Court papers show information about the site was given to more than 160 interested buyers, and the real estate agents handling the property continue to market it. The judge handling the cases filed against the condo board and developers approved the sale of the site in July. Proceeds are expected to go to compensate the victims and their families. Legal claims could reach $1 billion, according to The Real Deal.

On Friday, the Utah Jazz and Vivint Arena announced that all home games will require proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of an event to gain access to the arena. So naturally, local reporters were out on the streets to hear how the community felt about the recent announcement. A member of the Jazz organization, who also happens to be coming off a career-best year, was in the area and willing to comment. What KUTV reporter Hayley Crombleholme didn't realize as she was conducting one interview was that she was talking to (last season's sixth man of the year) Jordan Clarkson in the Salt Lake City-area. At one point, the KUTV reporter asked, "Did you go to any Jazz games [last year]?" Clarkson responded with a hilariously honest answer. "Yeah, a lot," he said. They were both good sports about the situation and later acknowledged it on Twitter. Although Crombleholme said she'd interview Clarkson again, she also admitted that the sports department probably won't ask for her help.

I am happy with some of the changes at SVU; I'll leave it at that for those who haven't seen the first 2 episodes yet. Mariska's moving around pretty well with her bum ankle. BTW, Maddie Corman, the actress who played Jenna's mother, is Jane Alexander's daughter in law. Her husband Jace directed many episodes of the LAW & ORDER franchise... until he was arrested for possession of kiddie porn. She decided not to divorce him, however.

The New York City Council on Thursday approved a slate of bills improving working conditions for app-based food deliverers — becoming the first major U.S. city to set minimum protections for people toiling in the gig economy. The Council’s six-bill package — which includes granting couriers access to restaurant bathrooms, mandating minimum payments per trip and ensuring that tips get to workers — is expected to be signed into law by Mayor Bill de Blasio. Outside City Hall, dozens of delivery workers cheered as they heard the news, gathering ahead of the vote to distribute helmets to other couriers and help with bike tune-ups. “This started with the group chat that I created with some compañeros also from Guatemala, and we saw this as a very long, complicated journey. Something in me said: ‘Don’t give up,’” said Sergio Ajche, who helped organize fellow delivery workers. “We hope this sends a message to other delivery workers in New York and elsewhere: If you work from the heart, you’ll get results,” Ajche, of Brooklyn, told THE CITY in Spanish. The lack of bathroom access became the rallying cry for Los Deliveristas Unidos — a grassroots collective of immigrant food delivery workers that began organizing last winter after pandemic rules shuttered restaurants to indoor dining and closed other bathroom options. The Deliveristas, most of whom travel the city by bike, helped keep New Yorkers fed in a city on lockdown. “This is a testament to the organizing power and determination of our city’s delivery workers,” said Councilmember Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan), who sponsored a bill requiring restaurants to make their bathrooms available to app-based couriers or face fines. Supporters of the legislative package hope that New York City’s action spur other cities to follow, offering a roadmap on how to negotiate a package with input from delivery workers and app-based tech companies making billions off the gig economy. ‘Solid Legal Ground’ The minimum pay rate approved by the Council in a 40-to-3 vote marks the first time a major U.S. city will standardize the working conditions of people toiling for the app-based delivery industry — setting a precedent as some major tech companies embark on a national campaign to clamp down on government regulations. The bills also included measures that will put limits on how far workers can be asked to ride — an issue that came to the forefront when some delivery people were sent on interborough trips as remnants of Hurricane Ida pounded the city earlier this month. At least one major food delivery company — Grubhub, which owns Seamless — told THE CITY that it supports the regulations passed by the Council. But the measures could face legal pushback from other industry players. “These bills are common sense steps to support the delivery workers who work hard every day for New York’s restaurants and residents. Ensuring they receive a living wage and have access to restrooms isn’t just a good idea — it’s the right thing to do,” said Grant Klinzman, a Grubhub spokesperson. This month, Grubhub, Uber and DoorDash sued the city over an extension of fee caps on restaurants the Council approved in August. San Francisco-based DoorDash sued the city last week over a new law that requires delivery companies to share more customer data with restaurants. City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) expressed confidence Thursday that the new working conditions bills would hold up in court. “We’re on solid legal ground. We don’t think there is any deficiency in what we’re passing today.” Johnson said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if some of the large — you know, at this point, probably multi-billion-dollar corporations that are making a lot of money in New York City, try to stop this.” Representatives for Uber Eats and DoorDash did not immediately respond to inquiries on whether the companies plan to file any legal challenges. As trading closed Thursday afternoon, DoorDash’s stock dropped from $220.04 a share to $217.66. Meanwhile, Uber shares closed at $45.48, a nearly 1.4% increase from its opening price. Relay, a smaller New York City-based food delivery company that works with restaurants, said in a statement that the company “is supportive of the new legislation and we celebrate this victory with delivery workers everywhere.” The various bills have the backing of de Blasio, who has not set a date for signing them into law, a City Hall spokesperson said. ‘A Seat at the Table’ The City Council vote comes nearly a year after THE CITY first reported workers were beginning to unite over the perilous and exploitative nature of app-based delivery work — including lack of bathroom access, alleged wage theft, insufficient pay, and reports of muggings and robberies. The improvements delivery workers notched Thursday build on the modest gains gig workers have won elsewhere in the country. In March, Philadelphia extended paid sick leave to low-wage workers, including gig workers. Seattle established an emergency minimum wage standard for delivery workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and is looking to make it permanent. The pay requirements introduced in New York by Councilmember Brad Lander (D- Brooklyn) are similar to those already in place to for-hire vehicle drivers, such as those who work for Uber and Lyft. Though a major victory for the Deliveristas, the minimum pay standards pale in comparison to the rights the workers would have if they were considered full employees as opposed to contractors. But they’re a good start, said Andrew Wolf, a lecturer at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. “It’s new and innovative,” for the industry, Wolf said, “and it’s important that governments do this, but it’s not like we’re creating new benefits for workers. Which is important, because we shouldn’t let companies decide who and who isn’t covered by the law.” The City Council’s bills also reignited discussions over how to classify people who do work for app-based tech companies, but are not considered employees. Instead, workers in the gig economy are designated independent contractors, which typically allows people to set their own wages and hours, something that’s not the case for app-based delivery workers. “This opens the doors of possibilities for workers,” Ligia Guallpa, executive director of the Workers Justice Project, which represents the Deliveristas, told THE CITY shortly after the vote. “One thing is real full representation [as employees] — that is the first step to start addressing all of the issues and regulating the entire industry, and making sure workers have a seat at the table, that they have the power to decide what goes in and doesn’t go in that contract. “And why not, forming a union that has the power to actually fight back against these giant tech companies,” she added. Hochul Eyes Worker Help Gov. Kathy Hochul said her administration was “absolutely looking” at reclassifying app-based workers, something that has failed to gain steam in New York. “God bless our delivery workers, too. My gosh. How did we rely on them so much last year? It was incredible what they did. So yes, we’re taking a close look at that,” Hochul said during a news conference in Manhattan. In January 2020, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo pitched a nine-member panel that would be charged with coming up with regulations for the budding gig economy. But plans were abandoned as the pandemic hit and attention directed to fighting COVID-19. Nascent discussions over a state proposal that would allow gig workers to unionize but fell short of classifying them as employees collapsed in May over restrictions that would have barred workers from striking or demonstrating against an employer. Voters in California approved a 2020 ballot proposition that allowed gig workers to be reclassified as independent contractors, but a trial court last month dealt a blow to tech moguls, ruling that the proposition was unconstitutional. “Being the first to do it, as one of the most powerful cities of the world and where most of these apps are concentrated, it sends a strong message to the rest of the country that it is possible to regulate this industry, that it is possible to provide rights and protections to app-based delivery workers,” Guallpa said. “This is what power looks like when workers decide to unite and organize.”