Just wondering, as we honor the life of Sen. John McCain

It’s been a while, so I decided to go back to the roots of my writing career and fire off another version of “Just wondering,” Labor Day style.

Just wondering if anyone gave a good thought about Sen. John McCain’s funeral services over the weekend. I found the entire ceremony to be classy, respectful, joyful and loving. I found all of the eulogies to be picture perfect, from the emotions of his daughter Meghan, to the former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, to his friend and colleague Sen. Joe Lieberman. They painted a splendid verbal portrait of the man, of who he was and how much he truly loved our great nation.

I don’t seem to care now that the President was not there. And shame on the clowns that were questioning Ivana and Jared Kushner’s seating in the church. Are you kidding me? It wasn’t like they were pushed to the 47^th row. They were in a place of prominence and I give them credit for even being there.

But the one thing that I got out of the whole ceremony was this. Political parties were tossed aside to honor a true American hero, a servant of our great nation for more than 60 years of his life. Democrats shook hands and greeted Republicans. George Bush was clowning around and giving candy to Michelle Obama. Comments were issued by both parties. It was a day that brought everyone together.

And especially in this tumultuous and trying time in America, isn’t that a great message to derive from Sen. McCain’s passing? In the immortal words of the late Rodney King, “Can’t we all just get along?” There’s always someone who has to bring up politics on a day like that, but sorry, when we’re all saying farewell to an American hero, it’s time to put politics on the backburner and just honor him the way he truly deserved that honor.

I mean, I’m a Democrat through and through, but I watched John McCain’s funeral start to finish and honored him by singing “America the Beautiful” at the closing of the ceremony. I still believe that should be the national anthem and sung only by Ray Charles, but what do I know? I think it serves the great nation better than the bombs bursting in air and the flag still flying.

So maybe, just maybe, both political parties can try to get along with each other, like they all did on Saturday in the National Cathedral, when they were all saying farewell to an American hero. Maybe we can put our differences aside for a little while and focus on the matters at hand that mean the most. After all, everyone wants to see America to be a better place than it is. No one likes the backstabbing and biting that is going on back and forth between the two parties. No one likes the hatred that is certainly fueled by the man elected to be the 45^th President of this great nation.

In honor to John McCain, patriot and hero, let’s all try to get along better in the months and maybe years to come. If we can all do that, then that will be John McCain’s eternal legacy. Although he was pretty damn good when he was the host of Saturday Night Live in 2002 and again in 2008 after the election.  So that’s an eternal legacy as well.

Just wondering if all the Giants fans are over the fact that the team cut Davis Webb on Sunday, admitting that the second-year signal caller from California wasn’t the future like everyone believed he was going to be.

Webb showed during the preseason that he had a ton of flaws. He overthrew practically every receiver on every route, either the little screen or mid-range slant to the long ball. He had almost a robotic release, like he was the QB on the old Electric Football game. He wound up and tried to throw the ball. Everything in football is supposed to be precise and quick. Webb was slow and predictable. He also was slow afoot and took too long to get in proper throwing position. All in all, Webb wasn’t any good and it proved to be a waste of a third-round draft pick.

Kyle Lauletta, although a little smaller in height and weight the NFL wants quarterbacks to be these days, has the potential to be a good backup to Eli Manning. But this all proves that last year’s removal of Eli as the starter was a total disaster and was the perfect reason to send Ben McAdoo packing. It also proves that the new regime of Pat Shurmur and GM Dave Gettleman hope that Eli is able to stay around for three, four maybe even five years.

Just wondering why the Jets took so long to announce that Sam Darnold was going to be the starting quarterback to start the season. Once the team shipped Teddy Bridgewater to the Saints, it was clear as a bell that Sam was the man.

And it’s evident that the team believes that Sam is going to be the face of the franchise for the next decade or so. He’s a keeper and they all realize it. But there was really no suspense In the fact that Darnold was going to start Week One. Head coach Todd Bowles should have said so officially weeks ago.

Just wondering if anyone else has gone to the movies to catch BlackKKKlansman yet. It’s a cinematic gem, an absolute wonderful trip back to the early 1970s and the troubled times our country faced in terms of the divide between the races. I’m not going to reveal the plot or anything else, other to say that this was Spike Lee’s best picture ever (although Do The Right Thing is close). Obviously, producers must trust Spike these days, because the budget for this one had to be high.

Anyway, Denzel’s son John David Washington was brilliant as the leading man and watch closely at the end to see if you catch a little of the old man in John David. I also like him because he had a brief stint as a running back with the Rams in 2006. But this movie will catapult John David into stardom.

Adam Driver was also excellent and will be worthy of Best Supporting Actor nominations come January. And Topher Grace from “That 70’s Show” was spot on as David Duke, the grand wizard of the KKK.

It’s a must see for all movie fans. It’s so well done and I was blown away with the overall brilliance.

Just wondering if anyone else is convinced that Jeff McNeil is the second coming of Daniel Murphy and can actually be our second baseman of the future. The kid can definitely swing the bat and I just wonder why it took so long to get him to the big leagues.

And the Mets are just so backward in their thinking of not promoting slugging first baseman Peter Alonso to the big club, just because they don’t want his free agent clock to start ticking a year early. It’s just so backward and not the way to conduct a Major League team. Shame on the Wilpons for their backward thinking.

The fans deserved to see Alonso and not traipse the dreadful Dominic Smith and all three of his RBI back to playing first base for the last month of the season. I’ve seen enough of Smith to realize the kid just can’t play and also doesn’t give two enough to deserve the attention he gets.

It should be Alonso at first with McNeil at second for the last 30 games or so and see what they can do as we look toward 2019.

And please, oh please, oh please, can they leave the starting pitchers alone? They are all pitching lights out right now, even the scary bad Jason Vargas, who we have to keep for next season. But please, leave deGrom, Syndergaard, Wheeler and Matz alone for next year. I don’t think there’s another team in baseball with a better four-man rotation than those four. I kid you not. They are all that good. The records don’t indicate that because the offense doesn’t score any runs.

I think the Mets could be pretty good next year if they spend money to construct a bullpen and get rid of the pile of dog doo they have out there now. Keep Lugo and Gsellman. I think Drew Smith has some potential. Maybe the lefty Daniel Zamora has a shot. But the rest are God awful and they have to address that as the main priority going forward.

They also need a catcher big time. They could also use a third baseman if someone would take Todd Frazier off of our hands. And hope and pray that a healthy Jay Bruce can return to the Jay Bruce who hit 30 homers for us for three-fourths of 2017.

If all of that happens, I think the Mets could be pretty good. But that’s a big if.

Just wondering if anyone is as excited for the start of the football season as I am. After all, I am a true-blue dyed in the wool long-time suffering Los Angeles Rams fan and I truly believe we have the team that could make a legitimate run at the Super Bowl this season. The pieces are all there. They just have to make sure that Todd Gurley stays healthy.

I’m the defending champion of my fantasy league and I have the first overall pick in this year’s draft. I’m not letting out any secrets in saying right now that my first pick will be the one and only Gurley man. There’s no reason for suspense like the Jets  did with Sam Darnold. I’m going Gurley.

So let’s go Rams and let’s go Gurley, early and often.

Just wondering if that’s enough for this blog. Yeah, I think it’s more than enough.