To make matters worse my son and four other boys from our troop spent the night in the woods about 5 miles from our camp to fullfill thier wilderness survival reqs for a merit badge. The boys go into the woods for a night with just a sleeping bag, knife, water, mat, and two hot dogs and an apple. When they returned to camp this moring around 6 AM my son informed me that he saw a bear near their shelter but he was scared off by the noise.

With all that I’m ready to go home and get some concrete under my feet by the way Jerry Manuel needs to play Daniel Murphy every day and Omar needs to give Livan Hernandez his release, and Jeffey and Freddie Skill Sets need to come out hiding and speak to the fan base on how they are going to get this franchise back on track not for this season but for 2010 and beyond.

Time for everyone in the Mets organization to man up and realize this season is done and work on dealing off guys like Ryan Church, Garry Sheffield, Brian Schineder  and Fernando Tatis to name four.

It would be nice if someone in the Mets organization had the guts of a 13 year old Boy Scout

On to news and links:

How sad is that back page of today’s NY Daily News? Dead Eye Plax and Deadwood Steph both are looking pathetic and lame, in Burress’ case very lame.  How fucking stupid can someone be? The Giants gather all their players in training camp to tell them if they have any firearms they’ve brought with them from other states to surrender them and the team will secured them and give them back when the season is over. Then the NFL offers to have a guard accompany these nit wits with their bling and bullshit as they go out on the town and still you have morons like Plaxico Burress. Thank God no one other than Burress was injured so I can laugh my ass off that someone could so fucking ignorant on how to use a firearm as to shoot himself in the leg.  My thirteen year old son who has shot rifles and shotguns can’t believe what an asshole Burress is and has offered his services to the NFL as a good Boy Scout, to teach the rank and file of the NFL how to safely handle a weapon. Our Mayor Mike III is goin’ real Gangsta’ on Plax as he has put DA Morgenthau (no shit, DA Morgenthau is so old he is the last remaining Dutch settler on Manhattan island) on notice no plea bargain for Burress but a cot at Rikers instead.

As for Marburry,  as someone who has followed him since his Lincoln High School (I even attended his announcement that he was committing to Georgia Tech as it was held at Skinflints a bar/restaurant I frequented back in the day in Bay Ridge) this chapter in his career is not surprising. Marburry has always be a “me” guy and he will always be a “me” guy but that doesn’t get the Knicks off the hook as they should have ended his employment last summer when Isaiah Thomas was sent packing. Not only does Mike D’Antoni skive Stephon but his teammates despise him as well.

A very good read from the folks at Beyond The Box Score (by way of the fabulous Baseball Primer) with a comparison of Ted Williams and Barry Bonds by using fancy sabermetircs.

Brooklyn Mets Fan gives a look at Rene Rivera a catcher the Mets signed to a minor league deal

Joe DeMayo’ Rumor Mill over at NY Baseball Digest is a must read especially this tasty tidbit:

•Derek Lowe remains the top target to be signed as a starting pitcher. The Mets seem comfortable going into spring training with a battle for the 5th spot in the rotation between Jon Niese and a “scrap-heap” pickup type. If the Mets fail to land Lowe, then Oliver Perez, Jon Garland and Randy Wolf could come into play out of free agency, or via trade they can look at Tampa’s Andy Sonnanstine, Edwin Jackson, or the White Sox’s Javier Vazquez. A name that is starting to garner some buzz is Daniel Cabrera who may get non-tendered by the Orioles. If he is non-tendered, it’s possible the Mets would look at him to compete with Niese for the 5th spot.

Cabrera is a very interesting name to ponder. His numbers are not very good and he needs a Garmin to find home plate but if he is non-tender a switch to the NL could help him.

Mike Hampton has turned his back on the Atlanta Braves and has taken his broken down left arm to Houston as it seems he wants to be closer to his children who live in Arizona with his ex-wife. That’s one helluva school bus ride to Denver for his kids to get that quality education Hampton bragged about when he left the Mets.

I’ll leave you with this. On this date in 1991 Bobby Bonilla signed a 3yr/$29mil deal with the Mets some of which I think the Skill Sets are still paying off.