Morrisania News: Always the Captain

Morrisania News: Always the Captain: Always the Captain Jeter on Season: It’s not about me Derek Tried to Focus on Yanks’ Season Rather than Retirement By Rich...

Always the Captain

Always the Captain

Jeter on Season: It’s not about me

Derek Tried to Focus on Yanks’ Season Rather than Retirement

By Rich Mancuso

BRONX, NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 20- Derek Jeter will be missed by the New York Yankees and their fans when his wonderful career concludes this season. Others will also miss his presence, including members of the media. And there are many reasons why the media will miss Jeter.

Derek Jeter was not a friend to the dozens who followed and chronicled his career on the field the past 20 years, rather we referred to Jeter as the professional who answered every question and never ducked an issue. He appreciated this end of the baseball business, and that was displayed again Wednesday at his retirement press conference down in Tampa Florida.

This was the start of Jeter’s retirement press tour. Time and time again, he will answer similar questions as he makes the final rounds around ballparks the Yankees visit. He was patient and understanding.

Then, there was this comment showing his concern to the media: “You can go off to work if you have to.” A few seconds after commenting about his retirement decision, Jeter momentarily took notice of some reporters leaving the pavilion at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Jeter once again, as he has been so accustomed to doing, did not want to be the center of attention. He was the story, and he will be this Yankees 2014 season. But, Jeter also is aware that the media has a job to do. With those words, to those few leaving the press area, Jeter was handling business.

This is spring training, about the New York Yankees quest and hopeful return to the post season in October. This day, according to Jeter, should not be about him. However, that is the side of Derek Jeter that we have all come to know. It was again, more about the Yankees and not about Derek Jeter.

His comments were to the point:

“I feel the time is right. There are other things I want to do. Physically I feel great and I look forward to playing a full season. The thing that means the most to me is to be remembered as a Yankee. Yeah, I’m emotional. It’s kind of difficult because we still have a season to play.”0

He did not laugh. Jeter did not cry. He said it was not a retirement press conference. “I have feelings,” he said.

And there have been times when we knew Derek Jeter had feelings. There have been the many times, and many more this final season when reporters await him by his dressing quarters. At the old and new Yankee Stadiums, the proper answer would always come from the Yankee captain.

Then there was this comment, so typical of what we always get to hear when Derek Jeter speaks.

“Every time the Yankees win,” he said about his favorite career moment. That had to be the toughest answer Wednesday, but one expected from Jeter. And if everything follows the Yankees illustrious history, the Yankees biggest win will come with a sixth World Series ring in the final season for Derek Jeter.

He said, “I think it would have been more of a distraction if I did not mention it,” referring to his retirement announcement on his social media Facebook page last week.

The point is, Derek Jeter has never been a distraction. He has done everything right as a New York Yankee and playing in the New York spotlight, well he handled that like a true professional.

He especially handled it right with the media. He will be missed. The good news is we get to enjoy watching Derek Jeter play one more season and like he said, baseball is fun to play.

Comment Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com  Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso  www.newyorksportsexaminer.com

Morrisania News: Snow Doesn’t Slow Down Cops

Morrisania News: Snow Doesn’t Slow Down Cops: Snow Doesn’t Slow Down Cops (Photo by David Greene) By David Greene BRONX, NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 19- The repeated snow-storms...

Snow Doesn’t Slow Down Cops

Snow Doesn’t Slow Down Cops

(Photo by David Greene)

By David Greene

BRONX, NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 19- The repeated snow-storms have not sidelined detectives who continue to respond too and solve local homicides.

Police officers in Morrisania were called to the Forest Houses on Friday, February 15, where Darin Capeheart, 25, who suffered from spina bifida, was shot several times in the chest outside of the E. 166 Street building and died at Lincoln Hospital.

A second victim and friend of Capeheart, described by police as a 26-year old male, was shot several times in the legs and buttocks and survived.

Just six days later police charged Bronxites Salim Wilson, 22, the suspected trigger-man and his accomplice Julio Velasquez, 20. Both men were charged with murder and attempted murder and Velasquez was also charged with possession of a weapon.

Investigators needed less than two days to solve the January 26 stabbing death of Leobardo Garcia, 29. Garcia was stabbed in the chest while visiting a building on Grant Avenue in the Concourse section.

Police have charged Pedro Torres, 32, with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.  

Morrisania News: Bronx Gets Shortchanged AGAIN!

Morrisania News: Bronx Gets Shortchanged AGAIN!: New Mayor, Same Result: Bronx Gets Shortchanged AGAIN! Officials blame residents for icy streets By David Greene BRONX...

Bronx Gets Shortchanged AGAIN!

New Mayor, Same Result: Bronx Gets Shortchanged AGAIN!

Officials blame residents for icy streets

By David Greene

BRONX, NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 12- Residents may not know if theirs is a tertiary or secondary street, but you don't have to be a genius to know that the city's new web site to track snow removal is a flop.

Residents in Norwood realized that when New York City's PlowNYC web site showed their area was plowed however, several secondary streets were not plowed enough or missed completely after two storms battered the area over three days.

Norwood residents took to Facebook after snowplows left a narrow path and large patches of ice along Decatur and Hull Avenues between East Mosholu Parkway North and E. 204 Street-- causing more than a few vehicles to become stuck.

Shortly after the latest storm of February 5, PlowNYC reported the roadway's were clear. The following Thursday angry residents took to the social media web site that apparently generated calls to both 311 and Councilman Andrew Cohen's office.

The source, who noticed the problem when she attempted to assist an elderly woman cross one of the ice covered streets, recalled, "They came and plowed, but I called them again and said it wasn't good enough, so they came back."

Sources say a plow again returned late Monday and eventually cleared the roadway.

Unpaved streets were also reported along Kossuth Avenue as well as Tryon Avenue, both in the Norwood section.

Meanwhile, traffic agents appeared to be engaged in a ticket blitz as two-man teams patrolled down Bainbridge Avenue and across E. 204 Street, converging on any vehicle in a no standing zone or metered spot.

The two-manned teams of ticket writers were also spotted in force in the Morris Park, Tremont and Fordham sections as hundreds of cars remain encased in blocks of solid ice two or three feet deep.

PlowNYC has been tracking the progression of snow removal by the Department of Sanitation of New York (DSNY) since Feb, 2013 and was created in response to the snow removal fiasco of 2010.

The PlowNYC program outfitted 1,700 plows and salt spreaders with GPS tracking devices that send the information to a central computer that uploads the information to an on-line map.

Keith Mellis, a spokesman at DSNY defended the department, claiming, "The block had been plowed by DSNY," but added that the situation was caused by careless residents.

Mellis claimed, "It's caused by people who throw it back into the

middle of the street and we go through with a plow and can't pick it up."

He explained that the tossed ice becomes embedded into the blacktop by passing vehicles.

Pleading with the public for cooperation, Mellis, now gearing up for the next storm, urged, Please don't put it back in the street."

Morrisania News: ‘Obama’ Hangs Out with Realty TV Stars

Morrisania News: ‘Obama’ Hangs Out with Realty TV Stars: ‘Obama’ Hangs Out with Realty TV Stars Photo by David Greene The boroughs own presidential impersonator Louis Ortiz celebrated ...