Football’s closer means baseball season is nigh
Huntington, L.I.: In the midst of Super Bowl week hysteria, all it took was a walk up my driveway in suburbia to visualize the Feb. 4 back page of the Daily News with the headline: “So you’re telling me there’s a chance!” The accompanying picture of a young boy, perhaps only 8 years old, wearing his baseball garb instantly and magically brought me back to my childhood and running to the candy store’s news stand in Astoria or Sunnyside to pick up the Daily News to read about what Phil Pepe or Dick Young wrote about Tom Seaver or Bobby Murcer. Talk about how a picture conveys 1,000 words.
Amazingly, in an instant, myriad joyous emotions evoked a treasure of memories when the city’s playgrounds and schoolyards were filled with children using their boundless energy and imaginations and using their Spalding rubber balls and stickball bats on sandlots, as an artist would use a canvas to portray a vision of hopeful enthusiasm.
NFL football is unquestionably a powerful presence in our lexicon of professional sports, but in my view — taking nothing away from football — the Super Bowl will always be a signal that spring training and baseball is right around the corner. Although legends like Willie Mays, Brooks Robinson and Yogi Berra are no longer with us, the game still grips us. In spite of all the world’s cacophony and chaos, baseball connects our generations and permits us, without a time clock (for the most part), to have conversations and create new memories to fill our hearts and souls. Let’s have a memorable New York baseball summer! Chris N. Karalekas
Perilous perk
Denver: Only Satan knows how many Super Bowl LIX tickets Big Tobacco bought and gave to our weakest links of humanity in high places. I hope you didn’t get one. Make America healthy for the first time. Mike Sawyer
Fear of flying
Manhattan: To the entire airline industry: I am terrified of flying. The latest disaster in Washington adds even more anxiety to my phobia. I will never get in an airplane again, even if it’s on the ground. Albert Tracy Johnson Jr.
Comfortable coverage
Brooklyn: Mayor Adams recently underwent medical tests for a pain on his side. The testing caused the mayor to cancel official activities for several days. Therefore, the tests must have been extensive. The mayor acknowledged that one test required anesthesia. At the same time, and long before he received needed care, the mayor has sought to deny Medicare and supplemental health care coverage to retired city employees. He has instead stubbornly sought to force retirees into an inferior private Medicare Advantage plan against their will. I wonder whether this profit-driven plan would have authorized the mayor’s presumably costly tests or would have offered him two Tylenol instead. City retirees would like to know whether what is good for the goose is good for the gander. The mayor and his cost-conscious plan should provide such assurance. Arnold Kingston
Initial honor squandered
Garden City, L.I.: Not long ago, when you read the initials RFK, what came to mind was an intelligent, articulate, compassionate man who worked his entire life trying to make life better for all Americans. Now when you see the initials RFK, you think of a nut! Paul Falabella
Cartoon villains
Brooklyn: President Trump and Elon Musk are the real-life version of Pinky and the Brain. “What are we going to do tonight, Brain?” “The same thing we do every night Pinky. Try to take over the world.” The only hard part is trying to figure out which one is smart enough to be the Brain. J.C. Calkin
War on waste
Kew Gardens: Kudos to Musk and Trump for stopping the waste of American dollars dispersed by USAID. The specific list of funding was jaw-dropping, to say the least. Many of the funding titles, like funding an LGBTQ comic book in Peru, made me spit out my coffee. Cutting the staff by thousands was also justified. The next effort mentioned by Trump was combating fraud. Herein lies billions of dollars being ripped off in Medicare and Medicaid alone. What a breath of fresh air this is for us taxpayers. We need to triple our efforts and make examples of people committing these crimes as well. Previous administrations were sleeping at the wheel for far too long. Phil Serpico
Stupid statement
Clearwater, Fla.: If Archie Bunker was alive, he would probably say to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, “Little girl, grow up.” Claiming that Elon Musk is stupid and one of the most unintelligent billionaires is a genuinely irresponsible and stupid remark. With an IQ of a genius — over the top at 155 — Musk is nowhere near qualifying as stupid. Ocasio-Cortez is just upset because the dirty little secrets of the radical left are now coming to light, like spending $32,000 taxpayer dollars on a Peruvian transgender comic book. JoAnn Lee Frank
Money misspent
Bayside: Thanks to Musk for finally bringing transparency to the federal government. A federal agency with a $50 billion budget funding comical projects in foreign countries. I thought USAID helped to feed foreign countries. Wow, was I wrong. Hopefully, Trump will eliminate this agency. United States citizens in Hawaii, Los Angeles, Ohio and North Carolina could sure put this money to better use after suffering from natural disasters. Timothy Collins
Billable hours
Suffern, N.Y.: Does the Treasury Department have a billing rate for “time spent rummaging”? Rick Sinclair
America first
Brooklyn: Dear President Trump, I am thankful for your leadership and efforts to shrink the size of the government. While thinking about your plan for Gaza, I realized that you could make that same amazing transformation right here in the U.S. Our public housing system has been ineffective in simple maintenance of its properties, with upgrades few and far between. Each year, we hear stories of buildings without heat, without secure doors and with drugs and violence too close to home. American citizens shouldn’t struggle to live comfortably in housing we pay for. I suggest using the same creativity and thoughts you had for Gaza and redirecting them here. Our citizens deserve safe and secure housing that permits them to thrive and live the American dream. Susan Caprio
Up to no good
Brooklyn: So, it’s only been a couple weeks and at least three of the Jan. 6 criminals pardoned by Trump have gotten into trouble again. Daniel Bell of Florida was rearrested on federal gun charges. In Indiana, Matthew Huttle was shot and killed when police pulled his vehicle over and he allegedly resisted. And most recently, Andrew Taake was arrested on a child sex charge in Houston. I’m really hoping someone keeps a running tab on what these so-called patriots are up to. Peter Magnotta
Fit for the stage
Manhattan: A few weeks into the new administration and I sometimes find myself appalled. I sure wish the late Vivian Blaine as “Miss Adelaide” were still here to do a parody of her showstopper “Take Back Your Mink” from Frank Loesser’s Broadway musical “Guys & Dolls” (feature film, too) as “Take Back Your Vote.” To quote the last line of the lyrics, “It all seems a horrible dream.” James A. Fragale
No public trust
Milford, Pa.: MTA head Janno “We Need More Money” Lieber just does not get it. He fails to understand why people see MTA funding as a bailout. I have an answer for him: We do the MTA funding dance every year. Lieber asks for billions for his capital plan and predicts dire service cuts and fare increases if he doesn’t get it. Politicians then come up with additional revenue streams to pay for it (usually by taxing people who don’t use the system). Here is a solution: How about stopping fare evasion and asking riders to pay what a ride is worth? Drivers should not be subsidizing a service they don’t use. We pay for roads, bridges (as we should) and mass transit. How fair is that? This is one of many reasons I left the city. Robert K. Greco
