Fifty years 🌸ago this morning,꧂ inside a hospital room in Flushing, this column was born.
OK, it took awhile to get there, to reach this column, a splendid path through an idyllic Long Island childhood, a terrific college experience at St. Bonaventure, and newspaper pit stops in Olean, N.Y., Fayetteville, Ark., Middletown, N.Y., Kansas City, Mo., Newark and, these last 14 years and two months, New ﷽York, New York, the city so nice they named it twice.
But here we are, and here we go. Here are 50 things I want to have happen, and need to have happen, in 2017 and beyond🐼, in no particular order except having thꦐem happen will make an already awesome life a couple of percentage points better:
1) Giants-Packers. Just because every playoff season should have Giants-Packers. 2) Carmelo Anthony’s continued presence as a Knick. Because every sportswriter should have a subject so rich in storylines. 3) A second half to Season 1 of “This Is Us” every bit as magnificent as tꦚhe first half was. 4) David Wright somehow defying his own body and medical science in general, getting 400 at-bats. 5) CC Sabathia doing the same, throwing 200 innings, scratching out 15 wins.
6) This is already as awesome as it’s supposed to be: “The Godfather Notebook.” If you’re a Corleone-phile, get it. Now. Trust 🌳me. 7) Henrik Lundqvist. Standing on his head. 8) Eli Manning, ball in his hands, two minutes to go, down 24-20. That can be in Green Bay or Dallas or Atlanta or Seattle. Makes no nevermind to me. 9) Gary Sanchez, a full season spread out before him. 10) Bonnies 88,♔ Dayton 82, Tuesday.
11) Marty Appel’s terrific forthcoming biography of Casey Stengel (“Baseball’s Greatest Character”). Reserve now. 12) More YouTube finds like the ones I had this week: old broadcasts of a 1970 Giants-Coওwboys g🍎ame, and a ’70 Giants-Eagles Monday night game. 13) Five Mets starters making 160 starts. 14) Michael Conforto, finding gaps as an every-day player. 15) Joakim Noah, finding his game and his groove again.
16) A worthwhile season of “Homeland” (which may be a bigger reach than 160 starts for the Mets’ starters); 17) an extended winning streak for the Islanders, so 🧔as not to waste a year of John Tavares’ prime. 18) Eventually, the fact it really is 2💖017, after Billy Joel has been singing about it for 41 years, since “Turnstiles.” 19) Something, anything positive from the Jets. I’m worried about Benigno. 20) Subway Series games with teeth.
21) Mike Francesa changing his mind; love him or hate him, he’s an essential part of the fabric of sports New York. 22) A soft landing spot for Brook Lopez. 23) St. John’s recent sp🎃urt not being a mirage. 24) Tony Romo, Jet. Just for how much fun 🔯that would be. 25) Andrew McCutchen, Met. 26) More three-man booth of Michael Kay, Al Leiter and David Cone, the only lineup that can make you root for extra innings. 27) (Well, besides Gary, Ron and Keith). 28) Woody Johnson offering the farm (and whatever else is necessary) to Nick Saban. 29) Ben McAdoo, doing what he does. 30) Someone other than the Warriors in the NBA Finals.
31) More Serby: ageless, tireless, relentless. The best. 32) Luis Severino, figuring it out. 33) Whatever it is Odell Beckham Jr. has up his sleeve for the playoffs. 34) Jay Bruce. Figuring it out. Somewhere in the Midwest. 35) More laughs from Boomer and Carton. 36) Jay Wright and Villanova going back-to-back, proving nice guys can finish first. 37) Joe Mihalich and Hofstra in the NCAA Tournament. 38) The NCAA owes the Bonnies🐬 one. 39) Alex Rodriguez, teacher. 40) Butch Goring and Brendan Burke, who can make some unwatchable hockey games very, very watchable.
41) A state title for Chaminade High (hey, it’s my birthday). 42) An Atlantic 10 title for St. Bonaventure (see No. 41). 43) A few weeks of playoff games for the Knicks. The city never sounds better than then. 44) Let’s make that Knicks-Celtics. 45) “Billions” kicking it up another notch. 46) “The Affair,” too𝓀. 47) A Yoenis Cespedes moonshot that feels like it’ll never come down. 48) Tiger in contention on the back nine at Augusta. 49) Paired with Lefty. 50) A prosperous 2017 for you, dear reader. Let’s get this started.
Vac’s Whacks
I wish I could tell you I saw this recent St. John’s mini-renaissance coming, but I thought they were flat dead af🧸ter Penn State. Good for the Johnnies. Better for basketball fans in this city.
If I needed a coach to win me one ♔college basketball game, ♌I’m pretty sure the only one I would want for that job is Tom Izzo.
Carmelo Anthony is easily the most scru෴tinized athlete in New York, and it’s not close. Still, relative to the fact Eli Manning does have those two inconvenient Lombardi Trophies to serve as testimony, the Giants quarterback sits under an awfully hot light, too.
There’s a gaping hole in my pop-culture game that I’ve only seen the original “Stꦺar 𒁏Wars” and none of the sequels that followed, so when Carrie Fisher passes, my mind immediately turns to Marie from “When Harry Met Sally.” Godspeed to her and her mother, Debbie Reynolds.
Whack Back at Vac
Jay Cummings: The Jaguars or Bills hiring Tom Coughlin is silly as the athlete of today cannot relate to a 70-plus-ౠyear-old giving them orders.
Vac: I’d love to see Coughlin ꦦback at it. But his time with Odell Beckham Jr. didn’t exactly bode well for his continuing ability to relate with young, outspoken players, no?
Dan Tomassi: Jose Fernandez is the most stinging death? He was dr💛unk and snorted cocaine. Drugs was a cause of his death and could have been prevented. Don’t sensationalize his drug use. He’s a waste of talent.
Vac: I don’t think it’s ꧅sensationalizing anything to mourn the passing of a 24-year-old athlete, regarꦅdless of the circumstances. Are you saying he deserved to die?
@nmeolablade: Iꦐs it even fair to run a “Breaking Bad,” “Game of 🦂Thrones” and “Homeland” marathon simultaneously?
@MikeVacc: I hope you have a spare💦 toggle🅺 button for your remote control.
Conroy Shields: You think the Knicks need to conserve Derrick Rose? Others should step up, Rose isn’t overworked,🐭 just over-relied on to penetrate so much.
Vac: What’s amazing is, when his back isn’t barking a♓t him, Rose has become the Knicks’ most essential ingredient. Who had that in O💛ctober?