soupcan

Dude. Sue Simmons is hosting. Pass.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Not surprised by what? You're a business owner, right? Under what conditions would you locate your biz in a site without paved roads or sewers? Not surprised by all of this : ](What they're paid to relocate would be decided upon by a third party who would assess fair value, and should make them all wealthy. The city will also help them move in terms of site selection and streamlining approvals and so on which would be difficult for any biz to do alone. So each biz owner there ought to come out OK, provided their business is OK. It's not like they're evicting single mothers from rent-controlled buildings and letting them fend for themselves. (shhh) several have already expressed approval of new sites offered them in College Point (shhh) The overarching question is the purpose of it all, but I think generally, "highest and best" use for waterfront property alongside a magnificent public park and a new stadium probably isn't industrial businesses on unimproved land.

I agree that in a perfect and fair world, the business owners should be the beneficiaries of the increase in their property value. I think eminent domain should not be applied here and the only reason it is being threatened is because of the expected increased value of the property. The increased value of the property will be a direct result of the new stadium being built thanks to the entities that have financed that project. Lets assume that before the financing was in place for the stadium that there were more than a few backroom deals in place that stated that should the monies be put forth to finance this project, there will be other sources of revenue that would allow thhose monies (and more) to be recouped. Financing the stadium would be a good investment. That 'agreement' in place, finacing is provided, staddium gets built, property values increase. Again in a perfect world the current owners should benefit, but without those initial agreements, there would be no stadium and no property value increase. I'm also assuming that the City has made offers to these business owners already and that those offers have been rebuffed because the property owners know that the value will increase dramatically once the stadium is built. Eminent Domain is the City's threat to take the offer or else. What if the City makes a better offer to these guys for the property taking into account the increased value of the property. Maybe they already have and these guys are holding out for more. Again - I am 100% on the side of the owners here and think the City should give them the sewers and basic services they want and leave them the hell alone. I'm just trying to determine what the reality is though and think of a solution that would benefit all involved. Just don't talk about how your grandfather founded the business and the location is second-to-none. Its all about the Benjamins. Be honest about it. OE: Didn't see Lunchables response 'til just now. Not surprised.

But the eminent domain wouldn't be an issue if a new stadium wasn't being built and there weren't (wasn't?) all this money involved.

Okay - I watched that video and yes, it is well-produced, compelling and sincere. Those business owners have been there for years and own the property. Fine. In that 16 minute plus video however it isn't until the lst 60 seconds or so that they really get to the crux of the issue. It's the business owners themselves who want to reap the benefits of the money that Citifield and an improved Willets Point will bring. Most of the video centers on the multi-generational businesses and how unfair the City has been in not providing basic services. They're right. 100%. The City should have addressed those issues long ago and the business owners are right to feel abused. The City (and the Wilpons) are financing the stadium and the resulting economic boost that it is expected to bring to the area. As a reward they want to develop that property. I get that. It is unfair. But the business owners wouldn't be so up in arms if they didn't think that there was a financial windfall coming their way either. They speak about the perfect location, how their great-grandfathers started their companies, but in reality they want to benefit from the increased value of the property instead of the City. I agree that the business owners should be the ones that reap the benefits but let's be honest about it and cool the heart-string tugging. Find a way to make it work for all parties involved. If the stadium wasn't being built, that property would not be increasing in value. The City/ Wilpons should be able to gain from the investment they are putting forth.

Definitely a fun read. I like how his ex-wife knew she didn't have the dedication needed to be a dancer so she decided to be a vetrinarian instead. Hilarious.

metirish wrote: In his pomp = In his prime. I figured.

If yesterday was funny quotes day, today is Lenny Dykstra day. From today's New York Times: March 27, 2008 Dykstra, Like His Father, Is Reckless in Good Way By ALAN SCHWARZ Cutter Dykstra, who moved to the outfield last week, is a possible first-round draft pick. Lenny Dykstra with the Mets in 1989. Scouts praise Cutter Dykstra�s fiery makeup and envision him as a top-of- the order hitter like his father THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. � The royal blue and orange leadoff hitter with �DYKSTRA� over his No. 4 rapped a grounder through the left-side hole, recklessly rounded first and then broke for second, safe by a inch and jumping up covered in dirt. It was 1986 but for two small details. One, no tobacco juice dripped down the kid�s chin. And Lenny Dykstra was sitting under a tree down the right-field line, buried in his laptop. Cutter Dykstra, 18, is one of the nation�s finest high school baseball prospects and a possible first-round pick in the June draft. While many major league sons feel confined by their father�s legacy, the younger Dykstra revels in it. He is a brad off the old Nails. �I love having that name on my jersey,� said Cutter, a .444 hitter this spring for the Westlake High Warriors. �I want people to come to watch me play � put pressure on the other team, steal bases and crash into walls. I want people to say, �Wow, he plays the game just like his dad did.� � Cutter Dykstra, merely one inch taller than his 5-foot-10 father, carries the same speedy, hard-nosed hyperactivity to the game. (And the recognizable Dykstra, well, posterior.) Scouts adore his fiery makeup and envision him as a top-of-the-order hitter similar to his father, who played 12 major league seasons from 1985 through 1996 for the Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies � including the Mets� 1986 World Series champions � and made three All-Star teams as a self-made pest. Cutter wants to be seen as blue-collar as well, which can be tough when your dad is worth more than $20 million and you just moved into Wayne Gretzky�s old hilltop mansion. Lenny Dykstra made his fortune after baseball in car washes and financial trading, and he has just started a luxury magazine, The Players Club, aimed at current professional athletes in need of financial advice. Scouts at Cutter�s games sidle up to Lenny not to talk about Cutter or the �86 Mets, but �to ask for stock tips,� one said with a chuckle. But they consider Cutter�s talent seriously. He has excellent speed, enticing gap power and a mature eye toward working counts. The primary concern is where he can fit defensively. He played shortstop until last Saturday, when he moved to center. Scouts do not seem quite convinced of his promise in the outfield. �Cutter�s makeup is off the charts, and his bat will get him to the big leagues,� one scout said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss prospective draft picks. �But there aren�t many short, right-handed hitters playing center field in the majors. He�ll have to really work on his jumps and arm to be an everyday player.� If Cutter takes to it, scouts will be even more taken with him. He could move into the first round, sign for his own first million and start his own rise to the majors. That was not as predestined as it now looks. Wary of putting undue pressure on his middle son � whom he named after a character in a television movie, not a fastball � Lenny encouraged Cutter to focus on golf as he grew up in Southern California. He hit 260-yard drives before he decided to embrace the family trade in high school. �I wanted him to come to the game because he loved it, not because it�s what I did,� Lenny Dykstra said. �Baseball was his choice � it wasn�t my choice.� When he was Cutter�s age, Lenny Dykstra was picked in the 13th round of the draft because of his uninspiring size and had to overcome doubts throughout his career. Cutter will be spared such scrutiny because his surname immediately connotes a don�t-doubt-me attitude that his father apparently retains. Told that Cutter is probably better than he was at this stage, Lenny bristled and said, quite seriously, �I hit .550 and didn�t strike out once my senior year.� The two have some differences. Cutter�s mother, Terri, said her son was �not a pigpen away from baseball, like Lenny.� �He�s more refined,� she added. And facially, Cutter resembles the current Met David Wright more than his dad. But behind his brilliant blue eyes, Cutter is all Dykstra. �Everything is baseball to me,� he said. �Even when I�m in school, if I�m taking too many notes, I worry about my eyes and my arm.� Westlake�s coach, Zach Miller, said: �He wants to beat the game. It�s unusual to see a 17-, 18-year-old that focused.� After every game, Cutter supplements his physical gifts by breaking down his mental approach to every at-bat and situation with his father. Becoming a major league star � one even brighter than his father was � is his unabashed dream. A more literal dream came a few nights ago, he said. His first major league at-bat was being televised. The uniform he was wearing? The Mets. �They split the screen and showed me side-by-side right next to my dad when he was a rookie,� he said. �I had a big wad of tobacco in my mouth, too.�

I will always associate 'Tara's Theme' with Lincoln Center because of the Channel 9 Million Dollar Movie opening. metirish wrote: It was great to hear Ralph in his pomp , I've really only known him with his voice not at it's best so that was a treat for me In his 'pomp'? I hadn't realized that Ralph's been impaired for that long.

I vended at the Carrier Dome as an undergrad. Similar experiences.

Agreed - the BeltranSexuals get my vote.

Great quotes all over the place today. From Shannon's bio: ]"On one of her spring breaks, she traveled to Haiti where she painted a house"

When the Mets opened in Nippon, I got up at 4:00 am drove into Manhattan, met a friend at the ESPN Zone, watched the game ate breakfast and then went to work. My guess is that Helio was still making hot dog omelettes in Corfu.

I post this article mostly for the quote from Mr. Helio Rocha that I've highlighted below. Never heard that before and I love it. From today's New York Times: March 26, 2008 For Sox Fans, a Welcome Wake-Up Call By ABBY GOODNOUGH Helio Rocha, left, and Tia Watts joined other Red Sox fans for a 6 a.m. game on Tuesday at the Cask �n� Flagon bar in Boston near Fenway Park; the team was playing in Japan. BOSTON � It had the trappings of a classic home game: the Fenway Park lights ablaze, the sidewalks jammed, the parking � make that pahking � impossible. Forget that it was 6 a.m. on Tuesday, and the Red Sox were playing baseball�s season opener against the Oakland Athletics oceans away, in Tokyo. Hundreds of fans crawled out of bed and to the Cask �n� Flagon, a bar in the shadow of Fenway�s Green Monster, which opened at 5:30 to indulge them. There was no beer � the state bans alcohol sales before 8 a.m. � but plenty of scrambled eggs and good karma for the team, last year�s World Series champions and Boston�s chief obsession. �If it was the Marlins, you wouldn�t see people in Florida getting up at 5 a.m.,� said Helio Rocha, a restaurant manager who stayed up all night in anticipation. "And if it was the Yankees � well, their fans aren�t real. They just buy the hat.� Jennifer Jagolinzer of Wayland said it was worth getting up at 4 a.m. because, from her corner table at the Cask, she could watch the game on 17 television screens. �The intensity, the passion, is incredible,� Ms. Jagolinzer said. Still, she and other early risers said they were not entirely thrilled about their team starting the season in Japan. This is the third major-league season to open there, as teams look to profit from the popularity of Japanese players like Daisuke Matsuzaka, a star pitcher for the Red Sox. �It�s tough on the players,� said Jim Laughlin, a lifelong fan from Maynard, �and I hope they don�t come home and get hurt by that.� Ken Krilla of Arlington added, �I don�t know if our national pastime should start in another country.� But Mr. Rocha said he did not mind because, like most fans, he could not afford to attend home games, anyway. Fenway is among the smallest major league ballparks, with some of the most expensive tickets. �Honestly, I don�t care,� he said, then roared as the Red Sox took the lead at the top of the sixth inning, going on to win 6-5. It was springtime in Boston at last. And, bleary eyes notwithstanding, time to get to work.

WHOOSH!

This thread has me remembering the summers of '77-'78. My friends and I in the upper deck in right field dressed in our costumes cheering on our favorite Dominican righthander, Nino Espinosa. We didn't need one since everyone knew us, but once we unfurled our banner there was no mistaking that we were... Nino's Ni�os! I think I have a picture of me at one his games somewhere...Oh, here's one:

seawolf17 wrote: Yeah, I was looking for a newer, hotter picture of Jenna Von Oy, but they're all vaguely pornographic. I know right? How freaky is that? Six showing us her giblets.

I don't know who that is, but she sure is -y

If I didn't have a 9-5 I think I'd really enjoy watching the Mets at 10 am or so every day. I'd have some Vegemite and throw some shrimps on the barbie. Then I'd go out and find Nemo.

Triple Dee wrote: Most Mets games start at 10am in my neck of the woods. Where you be?

(double post)

What time did it start - 5:00?

NL EAST Amazin's Phightin' Phils Bravos Nats Fish NL CENTRAL Cubbies Brew Crew 'Stros Redlegs RedBirds Bucs NL WEST Rox D'Bags (WC) Big Blue Wrecking Crew Pods Jints AL EAST Olde Towne Team Bombers (WC) The team from Tampa Bay Jays Birds AL CENTRAL Bengals The Tribe ChiSox Twinkies Monarchs AL WEST M's Halos Oaks Senators DIVISIONAL SERIES Amazin's douche D'Bags Rox club Cubbies Old Town Team drowns the M's Bombers drop one on the Bengals CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Amazin's crush Rox Olde Towne Team bombs Bombers WORLD SERIES Olde Towne Team dazes Amazin's OE: Doh!

86-Dreamer wrote: There are plenty of great ethnic places within easy walking distance or subway of Shea That's very true - some really good Korean restaurants in Flushing that don't get nearly enough traffic from Shea patrons.

Fame -- Eh. More interested in hearing Soupy's stories of being in performing arts HS. Soup, tell us about dance class, will you, dear? I will now educate you. I went to The Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music and Art. At the time it was housed on the campus of City College in a building on 137th street and Convent Avenue in Manhattan. This high school was for students who either sang, played musical instruments, sculpted, painted and/or drew. I happened to have a bit of talent as an illustrater but that was a looong time ago. The High School for The Performing Arts was located somewhere in or around Times Square. P.A., as it was referred to (as opposed to 'M&A' for my school), was for musicians and other performers - singers, dancers, actors. Sometime around 1990 or so I think, both schools merged into The Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music, Art and The Performing Arts. The school has since been housed in a building behind Lincoln Center adjacent to Martin Luther King, Jr. High School. When I was a student at M&A there was no dancing. I can regale you with stories of running to the subway at 2:57 pm so us priveledged white kids from 'downtown' could get the hell out of Dodge before all the other public schools in Harlem let out and we became the favored prey of the local kids.