We interrupt your regularly scheduled program...

So, it’s been quiet around these parts because I’ve just been too busy, too stressed and not really inclined to write for awhile.

So, what I’m going to do is start going through the drafts queue of the blog and emptying everything out. Getting all those unfinished thoughts and bits out and into the interwebs because you know I just shit jewels baby! JEWELS!

Anyway, this is from 2006 (wow five years!) when Corey Lidle flew into a building in Manhattan with his small plane – in his defense the building must have moved.

The plane, flying north over the East River, along the usual flight corridor, came through a hazy, cloudy sky and hit The Belaire — a red-brick tower overlooking the river — with a loud bang. It touched off a raging fire that cast a pillar of black smoke over the city and sent flames shooting from four windows on two adjoining floors. Firefighters put the blaze out in less than an hour.

At least 21 people were taken to the hospital, most of them firefighters. Their conditions were not disclosed.

Large crowds gathered in the street in the largely wealthy New York neighborhood, with many people in tears and some trying to reach loved ones by cell phone.

“It wasn’t until I was halfway home that I started shaking. The whole memory of an airplane flying into a building and across the street from your home. It’s a little too close to home,” Sara Green, 40, who lives across the street from The Belaire. “It crossed my mind that it was something bigger or the start of something bigger.”

I guess I’m a bit of a sc*mbag because while I’m sorry Corey Lidle flew his plane into the side of a building, I don’t find it the earth-shaking tragedy the media is trying to make it out to be. I feel bad for the people in the building more than anything else, people who were injured and lost their lives. I feel bad for the Lidle’s family because they lost a father and a husband (and even then in a rubber neckers kind of way when you see a really bad accident alongside the road and know someone was fatally injured). Lidle as a person, doesn’t affect me that much.

Lidle was a Met a long time ago, hadn’t played for a New York team in quite a few years and only came back to play for the Yankees after a trade made at the trade deadline in late August. It’s more along the lines of Corey we hardly knew you he wasn’t a favorite player of mine or anything.

Actually, the odd and slightly ironic thing is on Monday, I was listening to Mike Francesa and Chris Russo take Lidle to task for quotes he made to the Daily News amidst the firestorm over Joe Torre and the possibility of him being fired. I’m not crazy about Mike and the Mad Dog to begin with and they were being purposefully obtuse throughout the conversation. They were being difficult to make a bigger deal out of something which was probably a fairly innocuous conversation.

Lidle: Well, that’s what I’m saying. My comment... the way you guys are taking my comments are just out of context and twisting it and you know, I... I’m sitting here trying to enjoy my day in New York and I get a... a text message from a friend of mine, says you better call and defend yourself.

Chris Russo: First off, first off, no... if I’m a Yankee... no... no Yankee fan should enjoy the day in New York, that’s number one. I mean, the Yankees just got embarassed. You got a manager whose... on... who might get fired who has been here for 11 years. If I’m a Yankee right now I’m in hiding! I’m not enjoying any day in New York! That’s number one! Yankee fans aren’t enjoying...

Lidle: Yeah... that’s, that... okay... hold on, who’s that talking?

Chris Russo: That’s Chris!

Lidle: Chris. Okay, so, I’m not allowed to enjoy this day in New York?!?

Chris Russo: Well, I don’t know many Yankee fans...

Unfortunately if you go to the link, it’s long since been removed by CBS which is a shame because it would be great to hear in retrospect.

Also, in keeping with the underlying and prevalent idea in our society that should you fuck up, it’s not your fault and someone else should be to blame (because we should never accept responsibility for our mistakes in this country and thereby never grow and learn) – Lidle’s widow tried suing the plane manufacturer:

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and a flight instructor did everything they could to save their lives after the small plane they were piloting malfunctioned, causing them to crash into a Manhattan building, a lawyer for the men’s families told a jury Wednesday at the start of a civil trial.

California attorney Todd Macaluso said he will prove that Lidle and his instructor were killed because Cirrus Design Corp., of Duluth, Minn., failed to properly design the aircraft, allowing a deficient flight control system to remain in the aircraft even though there was a better and safer alternative available at a reasonable cost.

A federal safety panel concluded that the crash occurred because Lidle and his instructor misjudged a turn.

Lidle’s wife, Melanie, and the family of Lidle’s instructor, Tyler Stanger, filed a $50 million lawsuit, blaming Cirrus for the crash.

Way to go!