by John Walters

Starting Five

1. It’s Not Over…’til It’s Over

You know who said that? Former New York Met manager Yogi Berra (who is still around).

The Mets (no longer Mess), led by the studly hitting of Yoenis A-Cespedes-For-The-Rest-Of-Us and the lights out relief work of Jeurys “Famous” Familia, swept the Nationals three games in D.C.

Cespedes has hit 14 home runs for the Mets since they acquired him on July 31st. Once again, great move, Billy Beane. The A’s were 66-41 on day they traded him last year. Oakland is 82-113 since (oh, they also got rid of Josh Donaldson, who’s doing okay in Toronto from what I hear).

Anyway, Mets fans were celebrating (and Nats fans lamenting) the end of the N.L East race up and down my Twitter time line last night. After all, the Mets have a 7-game lead on September 10th. I mean, it’s not as if the Mets could hold a 7-game lead (2007) this late in the season (2007) and blow it (2007), could they (2007)?

I love these Mets, too. They’re probably itching to have Jeff Pearlman write a book about them. But it’s funny how fast sports fans forget the past. Especially when the team in second place has Bryce Harper, the best player in baseball this season.

2. Blake Lives Matter

We are not even 14 months past the Eric Garner tragedy, and the NYPD incites a new furor after two plain clothes officers tackled former U.S. tennis star James Blake outside of his hotel in midtown Manhattan. Blake, 35, who is biracial and attended Harvard, was waiting to head to the U.S. Open, where he twice reached the quarterfinals.

Ironically, the fuzz were pursuing a man they believe to have strongly resembled Blake in a case of identity theft. But they seemed to be itching for a physical confrontation. “You’d think they could say, ‘Hey, we want to talk to you. We are looking into something.’ I was just standing there. I wasn’t running,” Blake told the New York Daily News. “It’s not even close [to being OK]. It’s blatantly unnecessary. You would think at some point they would get the memo that this isn’t OK, but it seems that there’s no stopping it.”

It’s almost impossible to imagine a Harvard man being roughed up by cops in mid-town Manhattan. Unless, of course, he happens to be black.

3. No Ordinary Joe

When Kansas State quarterback Jesse Ertz suffered a season-ending knee injury on the season’s very first play last weekend, coach Bill Snyder inserted 6’5″ junior backup Joe Hubener. The native of Cheney, Kans., promptly led the Wildcats to a 34-0 win over South Dakota.

Hubener gets the start this weekend at Texas-San Antonio, and it will be his first. Not just at K-State. It’ll be Hubener’s first-ever start as a quarterback. Like, ever. In high school he was a situational backup at QB who started at wide receiver on offense. He did place 5th in the state in the javelin throw, but still Hubener had to walk on at K-State.

This Saturday a guy who never started a game in his life at quarterback is about to start for a Power 5 conference team. How bizarre is that?

4. All This Time, We’ve Been Living in the Elizabethan II Era

By this time tomorrow, Queen Elizabeth II will have sat on the throne for 63 years and 217 days (I hope there was a courtesy flush or two in there), making her the longest-reigning British monarch of all time. QE2 ascended to the throne in 1952 and has thus far outlasted the IRA, the Falklands War, Monty Python, the Sex Pistols, a former daughter-in-law and even the other Queen.

QE2 has now ruled for 7% of Great Britain’s history since the time of the Norman Conquest (1066). She passes her great great grandmother, Queen Victoria.

She is 89 years old, and a great grandmother. Meanwhile, her son Prince Charles is 66 and still waiting for his mother to get off the throne.

Your move, Cersei.

5. I’m 1K, You’re OK

Today marks the 1,000th post from the staff of Medium Happy. We’d like to thank all past (and future?) contributors, especially Bill Hubbell and his equally gifted sister, Katie McCollow. Judging from Malcolm Gladwell’s maxim, we only need to do this many posts nine more times before we finally become deft at it. We’ll be in our mid-Seventies then, but where else were we about to go?

Thanks to everyone for the loyal readership, particularly Susie B., An Inconvenient Ruth and a certain young lady in Sun Lakes, Ariz.

Music 101

Under Pressure

The song was written almost by accident — Queen was working on a song called “Feel Like” in Montreal, Switzerland — and David Bowie had come to sing backing vocals on another song. They jammed all night together and came up with this hit (my favorite pop song). Bowie’s backing vocals on the other song never made the album and sadly Freddie Mercury and Bowie NEVER performed this song together live…even though the two acts performed back to back at Live Aid in 1985 (history’s loss).

No more charismatic live performer that I ever saw than Freddie. None.

Remote Patrol

Steelers at Patriots

NBC 8:30 p.m.

The Bingo squares: ” -gate”, “Goodell,” “cheat,” “Brady,” “Kraft,” “Belichick,” “Gisele,” “murder him,” “Super Bowl,” “Roethlisberger,” “Edelman,” “concussion,” “suspension.” What am I missing?