My day seeing Buster Posey, Matt Harvey, and some other assorted shenanigans

I had kind of a busy day yesterday, so I am going to write about it in two very long Squawks. This one will be about the crazy fun and weird stuff of the day, including meeting and interviewing Buster Posey and watching Matt Harvey warm up for the game from about 10-15 feet away, something that got me called a jinx yet again! A later Squawk will be about the honor of attending the Mets' 31st Annual New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund Game and Family Day at Citi Field. Let's get started!

My day started out in a very weird way, when I saw the following headline from the Staten Island Advance: "Great Kills dentist accused of exposing self to teen employee." It was my former dentist! Fortunately, I only went to Dr. Alan M. Kratenstein briefly last year. But, as somebody else pointed out to me, this dentist's hand was in my mouth, which made me feel sick for the rest of the morning. Oy.

Buster Posey: more charismatic
than Derek Jeter

After a few hours at work, I headed to Topps headquarters to see superstar San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey in the flesh. (Thanks to my friend Joe Favorito for the invite!) Posey appeared at a presser there for bloggers to promote the fact that he is the baseball card company's new brand ambassador. And talk about perfect timing, given that he just caught a no-hitter the night before!

You hear a lot about how Posey, who has three World Series rings in five years and an NL MVP award, and who has been voted the new Face of Baseball, is the new Derek Jeter. I actually think Posey is much more charming than Jeter, who too often seemed to talk in a monotone with dealing with the media, as if he were at a dentist visit!

Posey has real star quality. Even if you knew nothing about baseball, you would know that he was somebody, the way he carries himself. Very charismatic.

Posey opens up the Topps baseball card box set.
First card he sees? Ervin Santana. Heh.

Anyhow, he talked about why he signed up to promote Topps. He said it was "really special" to represent the brand. Posey said that baseball cards are "something the younger generation can and should get excited about." He also noted that his grandfather is a big card collector.

Someone asked Posey about what it was like to see himself on a baseball card for the first time. He called it a "cool moment" and "a little bit surreal," and said he would always remember that day. He also talked about how his three-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, act about seeing their father on a baseball card!

Of course, many of the questions were about Chris Heston's no-hitter from the night before, and for what it is like in general to catch no-hitters (Posey has caught three, one away from tying Jason Varitek, something somebody pointed out.)

Posey said that while a no-hitter is a "rare feat" is is "unique in its own way," there is also a "commonality in no-hitters" -- that the pitcher and catcher "are able to get on same page" and "keep that rhythm." Posey said the challenge was to be efficient. He also had a lot of praise for Chris Heston. Somebody asked him if he felt bad that he didn't catch one of Tim Lincecum's two no-hitters Posey had a very humble response, saying that there was no guarantee that Lincecum would have had a no-hitter that day with Posey as catcher!

This is the Ervin Santana card that
Posey touched. I took it home with me.

I got the opportunity to ask Posey a question. I asked what it was about the Giants having so many more no-hitters than other franchises, and noted that they had four no-hitters in four years, and 17 no-hitters in all.  Posey first responded by pointing out that the team has had five no-hitters in seven seasons. Heh! (I didn't even think of Jonathan Sanchez's in 2009 because that was the pre-Posey era!)

My fellow Yankee fans will appreciate who Posey said "gets a ton of credit" for the team having so many no-hitters. That would be pitching coach Dave Righetti, who had a no-hitter of his own with the Yankees in 1983.  He also credited Righetti as being "instrumental" in his progress as a catcher.

Posey was also asked about Matt Harvey, who he called a "great pitcher" with "great stuff," and said that "we know we have our hands full" facing him last night. (Well, that didn't really happen, as you will hear shortly!)

Posey said he is passionate about baseball and said that he has no specific goals, other than to "just win." Although he did then say that he would like to set the record for catcher with most rings. (Yogi Berra has 10, though, so Posey's got a way to go on that!)

A young reporter from SI for Kids then asked him a lot of questions. The best one was what superhero power Posey would want. He said to fly, as he doesn't like to sit in traffic! He also said his favorite move was Dumb and Dumber.

Then Posey did a ceremonial opening of the new Topps Series 2 set for 2015. The very first card he saw? Ervin Santana of the Minnesota Twins, who is currently serving an 80-game suspension for PEDs. Everybody laughed over this. There should have also been sad trombone music!

Here is the front of the card.
What is on the back?

We also got to hear about Topps' new Series 2 line of baseball cards for 2015, which include Chicago Cubs' Kris Bryant's rookie card. They also have some new First Pitch cards, featuring people who have thrown out first pitches at baseball games. This includes "Mad Men" star Jon Hamm and Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead. Talk about cards that were tailor-made for yours truly! (But where was the card for 50 Cent's first pitch?)

I got a picture of the Dead baseball card, but it only showed the front side of the card. So what was on the back of the card? Someone I work with wondered: "Does the back of the card list different drugs (think LSD instead of RBI) and quantities per season?"

So I threw the question out to my Facebook friends, and received responses like: "Number of insufferable drum solos by tour," as well as "Road Trips (not W-L columns, in this case it's Good and Bad), visits to Dock Ellis' house, Toking Average, Bong Hits, Lyric Errors, etc." Other responses included "Number of times hallucinations involving fabulous furry freak brothers" and "Most joints rolled during one tour." Squawker Jon thought the Dead cards should be scratch and sniff.

When I was at Topps headquarters, I also got to say hello to Topps staffer Chris Vaccaro, who I knew from our days at the Daily News. And I got to talk to Steve Keane, my fellow Staten Islander and blogger at the Eddie Kranepool Society. Also made a new friend -- a young woman named Brandon from FanDuel.com. My phone's camera went out of whack during part of the event, so she was nice enough to share some of her Buster Posey photos with me!

Anyhow, I went back to work after this, and then headed to Citi Field in the late afternoon to go to the Answer the Call benefit game (details on that in a future Squawk.) I got to the media check-in at 5:15 p.m., as I was supposed to, but there was a snafu. Even though I had RSVPed, and gotten written confirmation on the RSVP, my name was not on the list. This could have been fixed in two minutes if the Mets' young receptionist hadn't been a (rhymes with witch). Even though I showed her this RSVP information, she simply would not listen to me or do anything about it. I wasn't surprised at how rude and unprofessional she was, given that her tank top and miniskirt getup was a very unprofessional workplace outfit, unless your workplace is on the pole!

Because of her incompetence, I had to wait 45 minutes in the media check-in area until the Mets PR person I was dealing with contacted the Mets communications director -- the same person who got us access to Citi Field for our Guideposts Spartan Race photo shoot -- to get the situation fixed, and get me into the ballpark.

Fortunately, it all worked out in the end, and I was able to get some very moving quotes from people at the picnic, including getting to talk to Rusty Staub, the founder of the benefit fund. More on that later today.

Something funny happened, though, while I was cooling my heels waiting. I saw an older gentleman with a baseball cap on his head come up to the receptionist and say that he was picking up tickets for himself, Tommy Lasorda, and Joe Torre. He then smiled at me while I was waiting -- he must have noticed how stressed I looked. His smile made me relax a little and feel better. I smiled back.

Anyhow, I saw Lasorda come in after that, and I said hello. Was glad I didn't see Joe Torre, because I would have asked him things like "Why didn't you bunt on Curt Schilling?" and "Why did you pitch Jeff Weaver in the World Series?" and "Why did you hate A-Rod so much?" and it wouldn't have ended well!

Anyhow, later on that night, I saw that same smiling, kindly man talking on the Mets broadcast with Torre during the game, talking about  prostate cancer awareness. The man was billionaire Michael Milken. How funny is that?

Matt Harvey, future Yankee

As for the game itself, I got to see Matt Harvey warm up and was about 10-15 feet behind him -- the picnic area was right behind the bullpen. He has a real swagger to him. Like Posey, Harvey has true star quality. But while Posey has an aw-shucks demeanor, Harvey is all strut.

I joked on Facebook that I was scouting him for the Yankees, since we all know he will be in pinstripes at some point!

Of course, seeing him in the flesh, and staying for the game, meant that I got the blame for being a jinx to Matt Harvey and the Mets. Squawker Jon pointed out that Harvey had never lost a game in which the Mets had scored four runs or more. That is, until now!

Me at the game, with a bad selfie.
Jon said I look very startled!

I only stayed until the middle of the sixth inning for the game, but the damage was done. Squawker Jon (and others!) blame me for Harvey's poor performance!

During the game, I walked around the park, and also had a fabulous Patron margarita, as well as some carnitas tacos (without eating the shells.) Also got to meet Facebook friend Brad Kurtzberg at the game. Nice guy!

As for Harvey, it does make me laugh how irate Jon was. He texted me: "What did u do to Harvey?" Hey, don't blame me!

In all, it was a very busy day! Will write about the second half of the day later on this Thursday.

50 Cent's worst first pitch ever and other clips I never get tired of

It was a year ago this week. Rapper 50 Cent threw out the first pitch at the May 27, 2014 Mets game. And Fitty, aka Curtis Jackson, was just a bit outside -- make that a lot outside! As Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen said, his first pitch "was not great." But it is great as far as one thing -- it always puts a smile on my face!

And you know what? I wonder if 50 deliberately threw this worst first pitch ever so people would talk about him and remember his then-upcoming concert at Citi Field? If he had just done a mediocre first pitch, it would have been forgotten. But with this incredibly bad first pitch, he became a legend!



Anyhow, I can never get enough of seeing that pitch. And it got me to thinking about what are my go-to clips that I watch to make me laugh, or just to put a smile on my face. Here are my all-time faves:

Did you know that Aaron Paul, aka Jesse from "Breaking Bad," was once a contestant on "The Price Is Right"? No joke! Watch him come on down and make it out of Contestant Row. "You're the man, Bob," Paul screams, "You're my idol!" I also like when he screams at the end, "I get to spin the wheel, right?"

You know, "Breaking Bad" fans wonder what happened to Jesse after he drove off. I would like to think he was on his way to Burbank to be on "The Price Is Right"!





There are a lot of "Peanuts" references in this blog -- I say "good grief" all the time, and both Jon and I reference about the cartoon classics a lot. This clip has the gang dancing to "Hey Ya." It is awesome!

My dream is to do a video to act out the dance scene to this music with real-life people. I got dibs on being the curly-haired girl in the back left!





You know, Pete Campbell, my favorite character on "Mad Men," had a lot of great comic moments on the show. "Not great, Bob" is a classic. But the clip I love best of him is when he and wife Trudy do the Charleston. It is sweet and charming and funny. Would love to do this in a party in real life!




The last clip is definitely not safe for work, due to language. For me, it is also not safe for work because I laugh so hard at it, and cannot stop. It features clips from the Barney kids' TV show with the characters singing and dancing to...N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton"!

Shocker! There is actually some Mets talk today on Subway Squawkers!

Since Squawker Jon is very busy with a real-life work project, there hasn’t been much Mets Squawking in this blog lately. Heck, we’ve had more “Mad Men” talk lately than Mets talk! (Speaking of which, click here to hear a drunken Don Draper sing “Meet the Mets.” If I were in charge of the Yankees big-screen entertainment, I would have that clip played at the next Subway Series in Yankee Stadium! )

Anyhow, I wanted to talk about something one of the officers in my running club wrote a while back, because it relates to the reason for this blog: Mets fans vs. Yankees fans! Josh is a fellow blogger and a cool person, even if he is a Mets fan. And he has a theory about New York baseball fandom as it relates to runners.  His theory is that most New York runners will choose the Mets over the Yankees. He bases this on the fact that “while the Yankees have an illustrious history of being the winningest team in baseball, the Mets don’t.” So he writes the following:

Now if you consider the average runner as he is compared to all the other runners on a bell curve which includes the slowest and fastest runners in a race, he is most likely a middle-of-the-pack runner if not slower.  He or she is very unlikely to win anything at the end of a race except maybe a chance to break their own personal record.  This experience of continually “losing” races and trying to overcome a physical challenge naturally builds an underdog mentality in many runners.  The NY Mets have often been associated as the underdog team, so many runners can relate to them more than the Yankees.

Josh's theory also relates to the idea that hope springs eternal each year, both for runners and for Mets fans.

“Since many runners are middle-of-the-pack runners or slower, every new year represents a chance for them to do better and to break pr’s; in their point-of-view, to win.  This high level of personal optimism as runners gets transferred to a renewed optimism each year in a team that they can relate to with all their failed seasons that makes them feel that they are due for a long-awaited win.”

Long story short, Josh did some analytics here, surveying New York runners, and then surveying a control group. While the majority in both groups preferred the Yankees to the Mets, the runners did actually have a pretty healthy margin of Mets fans – 41% -- to the control group of non-runners, which only had 12.5% percent Mets fans. You can read the entire piece here.

This blog post confirms for me that everything is a matter of perspective. You see, the people in my running club seem to be very fast to me. Heck, Josh was a pacer for the Brooklyn Half-Marathon for those people running the race in two hours, and has run half-marathons on his own even faster than that. While I have improved a lot as a runner over the last year or so, I am still in the back of the pack. And the only way I am ever going to run a half-marathon in even two hours any time soon is if I take a cab from the starting line to Mile 5 or so in the race!

So if *these* runners have an “underdog mentality” and root for the Mets, what does that make me? A Toledo Mud Hens fan?  Or perhaps the club below is really the team that matches up to my current running skills.

Perspective is everything, and I have to keep on reminding myself when it comes to running to be the best I can be, and not focus on how I compare with others. However, in baseball, how you do against others is what is important. But even then, perspectives are different. My Houston Astros fan friends seem to be absolutely stunned that their team is still in first place, with the best record in the American League. 

And the Mets still have a better record than the Yankees this year, but you wouldn’t know it from the trash talk (or lack thereof) usually emanating from Flushing when the Mets are doing well. 

As for Yankeeland, the Bronx Bombers may have just swept Kansas City, and may be back in first place, but many Yankee fans, including myself, are still anxious about this season. With good reason! 

And here is my perspective. I want the Mets to make the postseason, and I of course want the Yankees to make the postseason. My own perspective is focused on this blog, and both teams being successful will be good for the Squawkers! Yes, I am a solipsist here. So sue me.

My thoughts on the Bernie Williams ceremony -- and yes, I think his number should have been retired

Pete Campbell's Chip N' Dip!

I Squawked Sunday night about New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick's (incorrect) ire over Bernie Williams Night being held the Sunday before Memorial Day. But I didn't write about the ceremony itself. There was good reason for that.

That is because I was at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens on Sunday, checking out the excellent "Mad Men" exhibit (a must-see for fans of the show!), and then waiting around for my turn on a customized flight simulator called "Birdly." This thing was awesome -- you got the sense that you were flying over New York City, and you used your arms to flap and swoop up and down, left and right, and over the city. It was a huge adrenaline rush!

What Birdly looks like

The fact I was not embarrassed to be sprawled out on this thing -- and that I could fit on it -- tells me that I have made big progress on my weight loss goals!

Anyhow, I am glad I stayed around to try out Birdly, but it meant that I did not get home to Staten Island in time to watch the Bernie Williams Night pre-game ceremony. However, I was home in time to see that entire debacle of a game, though. Oh, joy!

So I didn't get to watch the actual ceremony until this morning. This tribute to Williams, one of my favorite Yankees, was long overdue. And so is this writeup!

Here are my thoughts on Bernie Williams Night, as I watched it:

• Before the ceremony, that strange DirecTV ad with Hannah Davis and the horse runs. Given that she is Derek Jeter's paramour, did he get approval on who voiced the horse? Also, this ad isn't half as good as the Rob Lowe ones. Free Rob Lowe!
• Glad to see Gene Michael here. He (and Buck Showalter) don't get enough credit for the dynasty. If you may remember, when Bernie was a rookie, Williams was shy, wore big glasses, and was teased mercilessly by Mel Hall and called "Bambi." It was Michael who saw this, and got rid of the bad apple that was Hall. Now Williams is in Monument Park, and Hall is in the pokey. Fitting.
• David Cone is introduced. Why doesn't he get love when it comes to the late 90s stuff? Tino Martinez gets a plaque, but not Coney? C'mon now. David pitched a perfect game!
• Speaking of which, Tino gets introduced as a "fellow member of Monument Park." That just seems wrong to me. Sorry.
• Paul O'Neill comes out. I wonder if he loses his temper at home, do the light fixtures get destroyed! Come to think of it, I wish he kept that temper in the broadcast booth and gave players -- and Michael Kay -- more grief!
• Joe Torre is introduced. I know I am in the minority on this, but I feel like he didn't do enough penance over the way he trashed the Yankees both on his way out the door, and in his book. All he seemed to say was, in effect, "blame Tom Verducci" for him biting the hand that fed him for 12 years. Good grief.
• I notice that nobody, with the exception of Joe Torre, is wearing a tie. Just sport coats, dress shirts, and slacks. Did they plan this beforehand? Is Joe the only one wearing a tie because he was the manager?
• Oh, wait. Scratch that theory. Mariano Rivera is wearing a tie, too.
• Derek Jeter is here! He is introduced last, as "El Capitan." One of my brothers has a theory that the Yanks have made a deal with Jeter to retire that captaincy (remember, Brian Cashman said this spring that he didn't think anybody after Derek should be given the role) in exchange for Jeter showing up at these things. Hmmmm.  
• There is a video tribute featuring Williams' career highlights, as well as clips of people talking about him. Brian Cashman says something about how when "we signed him." Um, Bri, you were still in high school when the Yankees signed Williams. The only superstar you signed as a homegrown player was Robinson Cano, who you then let walk out the door. Not that I'm bitter or anything!
• It was great fun to see those clips of Williams in the playoffs in the late 90s. People have forgotten how good he was in the postseason -- 128 hits, 22 homers, and 80 RBIs! Glad to see him getting the recognition he deserves.
• I notice in the video tribute that current Yankees like Mark Teixeira, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Carlos Beltran, none of whom played on the Yanks at the same time, are interviewed. Yet Alex Rodriguez, the only current Yankee who was actually a teammate with Williams, is snubbed. Bad form on the part of the Yankees. Stop being petty, guys!
• Now Bernie is getting gifts. Hal Steinbrenner comes out with a milestone ring. I still contend that Hal looks like a combination of his father and Tucker Carlson!
• I think it is pretty cool how Williams has this second career as a jazz musician after his first one. And he is very good at the second one, too. 
• Williams is giving his speech. It is a very gracious one, where he thanks his family, teammates, management, etc. He also says that the Yankees wanted to do this ceremony for nine years, and he was the one putting it off.
• I am not sure when Williams and his wife Waleska divorced, but she is not at the ceremony, although their kids are there. Nor is she ever mentioned or thanked during Bernie's speech. My friend Jerome said that it stuck in his craw that Williams never thanked his former wife and the mother of his children. I have to agree. 
• Overall, it was a very good ceremony, and a well-deserved one. You can watch the whole thing for yourself by clicking this link.

A thing like that: Why I loved, loved, loved the series finale of "Mad Men"

Stan's reaction when Peggy says she loves him.

Warning -- there are "Mad Men" spoilers in this Squawk. And very little baseball talk. Be forewarned.

* * *

Wow! That last episode of "Mad Men"  was amazing! I was worried that Matthew Weiner, a former "Sopranos" writer, was going to end the show in an ambiguous way (read: running out of ideas and not being able to come up with a real ending), the way that "The Sopranos" concluded. Instead, Weiner shocked me with a finale that was wonderful and happy and amazing. How cool is that?

Here are my thoughts of my favorite parts of the finale:

Pete Campbell leaves for his big job with Trudy and their daughter: I know Pete can be a jerk, but he is my favorite character on the show. That is because he is multidimensional -- he was the most progressive on civil rights and women's rights, he ended up being Don's biggest defender, and he also was very supportive of Peggy (the way he praised her in the finale just slayed me!) Pete is a little like A-Rod in doing some very bad and very good things, where he ultimately has a good heart, but acts like a knucklehead a lot. And just like Pete, A-Rod has been much better behaved this year.

Anyhow, I have rooted for Pete for most of the show, so I was thrilled that he finally got his family back -- and his dream job. Who would think that Pete Campbell would end up being arguably the most moral, upstanding character on the show? My faith in Pete was not misplaced! See, Squawker Jon, I was right after all! (He has claimed I was the only person on Team Pete over the years.)

Steggy gets together: Yes, that is what the cool kids are calling the Stan-Peggy pairing. I was a Pete-Peggy shipper for most of the show, but I think both people ended up with the right partners.

If there is any consistency to this show, it is that Peggy has consistently had awful relationships. Is there anybody on television who has had as many bad dates as she has? Only in horror shows! But in Stan, she finally has a supportive partner who understands her both intellectually and emotionally, and who wants the best for her. It was so fun to see them finally get together. I gasped when I heard Stan's speech, and cried when Peggy started talking. I have watched that scene multiple times since, and get teary-eyed each time. It was inspiring! Finally Peggy can have the career *and* the good boyfriend! They really make a terrific team.

Don finds enlightenment -- and his greatest success: Squawker Jon (and a lot of other viewers) were initially confused by the Coke commercial at the end. I got its significance right away; Don would come back to McCann from his sojourn and write the most popular commercial of all time. I have had that smile on my face myself when I come up a good idea to write. Don creates the "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" ad, while I write about who would win in a celebrity boxing match: Pedro Martinez or Jorge Posada! But it is the same creative impulse. Of course, he gets rich from his writing, while I squawk for peanuts, but still!

Some viewers seem to think that Peggy created the ad, but it was clearly meant to have been done by Don. The receptionist at the hippie center was in the ad 16 seconds in, and the hilltop in the ad looks like Big Sur. Thinking Peggy did it is wishful thinking.

Some viewers also think having Don go back to advertising is somehow a failure for him. Huh? He was once great at what he did, then fell into a slump (baseball tie-in: remember his drunken singing of  "Meet the Mets"?). Now he's got his groove back -- with a vengeance -- and is responsible for such a great ad. That is a happy ending to me! I work in advertising myself, and still get that frisson of excitement every time I see an ad I proofread. Imagine how Don will feel having created a national phenomenon? Plus, he seems to have reached some measure of inner peace. Good for Don!

* * *

As for the other endings on the show, I can't stand Roger's new wife, but at least he seems to be happy. Plus he is stepping up to help his son. Was good to see Ken Cosgrove helping Joan. And she can do better than that controlling jerk she was dating. Plus, she will be able to be her own boss now.

I was never a Betty fan, but I think the kids should be with Henry. He has raised the boys himself from an early age, hasn't he? He is basically the only father Gene has really known. Betty keeping him out of the picture is too disruptive, IMHO.

Harry didn't even get an ending, although he was a big character on the show in the beginning. IMHO, Harry took on the jerkitude that Pete used to be known for -- and then some -- and became a one-dimensional twit.

I would have liked to have seen a Sal return -- we get endless episodes of Di the drip, and the return of Glen Bishop, but no Sal? But you can't always get what you want.

In all, though, I thought the finale was arguably the greatest one of all time, with fans really getting what they wanted. Good stuff. Kudos to Matthew Weiner and the cast for pulling it off!

Is Don Draper a man in a hurry? How a "Mad Men" episode echoes "The Andy Griffith Show"

From last night's episode of "Mad Men"

Off-topic warning: This Squawk has absolutely nothing to do with baseball. Instead, I will be talking about “Mad Men,” and “The Andy Griffith Show,” and important plot points of both TV series, so consider this a spoiler alert for both shows, and go read something else if you don’t want anything to be spoiled for you, or if you don’t care about the topic!  (You would think I wouldn’t need to have to put “spoiler alert” about a program that debuted 50+ years ago, but I once got yelled at for talking about the ending of “Easy Rider” – 30 years after the movie was released!)

Okay, let’s get to it. AMC’s “Mad Men” is ending its run next week, and there were three main storylines in “The Milk and Honey Route,” last night’s episode, which involved Don, Betty, and Pete, three of the main characters. This was one of the best episodes of the entire series, IMHO. “Mad Men,” which was once a really great show, had really gone down in quality over the last few years, which made last night’s terrific episode one worth savoring.

Some TV fans got into “Mad Men” from the beginning of the show. As for myself, even though Squawker Jon told me it was the best program on TV, I didn’t start watching it until I started working in advertising, and then I binge-watched and got caught up with the show a few years ago.

Anyhow, what I want to talk about is the “Mad Men” plotline involving Don Draper, the show’s main character. He is on a sojourn across the country, driving hither and yon after walking out of an advertising meeting and hitting the road. (Speaking of which, I am on a sojourn on my own, but will be back soon!)  Don is on his way to the Grand Canyon, but ends up in Alva, Oklahoma after his Cadillac breaks down. He has to stay in this small town while his car gets fixed, which takes longer due to some parts having to get shipped in.

A "Man in a Hurry"

Longtime Squawkers readers know that "The Andy Griffith Show" is my favorite show of all time. In the “Man in a Hurry”  episode of “The Andy Griffith Show,” which is arguably the most famous episode of the program (and the quintessential one to watch if you want to get the appeal of the show), Malcolm Tucker is a city slicker from Charlotte on his way to a meeting. But his car breaks down in Mayberry, North Carolina on a Sunday and he has to stay around while his car gets fixed.

The businessman is increasingly exasperated by the slow pace and minutia of Mayberry. He doesn’t want to hear two old ladies using the telephone party line to talk about their aching feet, or to hear about Barney Fife talk about taking a nap and going over to Thelma Lou’s to watch a little TV.  He can’t understand why Wally, the owner of the filling station, won’t work on Sundays, and he thinks Gomer Pyle, who pumps gas at Wally’s, is a doofus.

But then Tucker gets charmed by the small town niceties – Andy singing and strumming a gospel song on the porch, Aunt Bee making him a sack lunch, Opie giving him a penny that was run over by a train. Even though his car finally gets fixed that day, Tucker makes an excuse to stay another day in Mayberry. In the last scene, Tucker is fast asleep on Andy's porch in a rocking chair, his surrender to the simpler life complete.

On “Mad Men,” the small town featured on the show seems at first like a wholesome scene as well, although Draper is not as cranky as the businessman on “The Andy Griffith Show.” Don checks into a mom-and-pop motel in Oklahoma, where he gets offered a leftover roast and helps fix a typewriter. It looks at first like Don is going to learn about how wholesome small-town Okie life is, as opposed to the venal people in the big city.

But instead of an uplifting “Don learns the true meaning of life” plotline, the way “Man in a Hurry” ended, the “Mad Men” plotline veers in a different direction.

The mechanic overcharges him, something the female proprietor at the motel cheerfully informs Draper of. The male “maid” at the motel is a small-town grifter who also overcharges Don to get him booze and paperbacks.(By the way, the grifter's name is Andy.)

After his car is fixed, Draper is exhorted to stay over that Saturday night for a gathering at the American Legion hall. Far from being a wholesome night, the evening is filled with drunkenness and debauchery, including a really sad-looking stripper jumping out of cake, and Don being pressured to tell his war stories by fellow veterans.  Yet the men around him don’t bat an eye when Don talks about (accidentally) killing his commanding officer in the Korean War, something Draper has avoided talking about for the entire run of the series. Don also gives $40 for a collection to help a veteran whose home burned down.  So in a weird way, it might look as if he is going to be accepted in this little town, the way the “Man in a Hurry” was on “The Andy Griffith Show.”

But after Draper goes back to the motel, the evening takes a turn for the worse when the $500 meant for the veteran goes missing, and everybody thinks Don did it. (Although if the look on the female motel owner’s face is any indication, she seems to believe in Don’s innocence.) The vets and the male hotel owner beat up Don to get the money back, and even hit him in the face with a phone book. It is pretty horrible to watch.

Don figures out what really happened – the male maid took the money. He readily cops to it, justifying it by saying that the vet burned his own house down. Don exhorts him to give back the money, and tries to convince the young man to get off the bad path he is on. Draper ends up getting the money back and leaving it to the motel without explaining what happened. He also agrees to give the con artist a lift to the bus station – the guy is skipping town. But then, when they get to the bus station, Draper gives the guy the Cadillac to keep, and goes to wait for the bus himself.

We won’t find out where Don is going to until next week, but I imagine that small-town life is not going to be where he stays.

Anyhow, it seems to me that Matthew Weiner, creator of “Mad Men,” deliberately chose this plotline to echo “The Andy Griffith Show” one. Incidentally, "Mad Men" has shown characters watching "TAGS," which aired in the show's timeframe.  But in all the recaps I have read, nobody else has made this comparison of the plot points! So if nobody else would write it, I guess this job falls to me!