The Ending Of A 22 Year Relationhip

FIRST YANKEE GAME : Saturday, June 7th, 1986
Attended With: My brother Thomas & 4 of his drunken buddies
Against: Baltimore Orioles
Result: Baltimore 5 - Yankees 2
Lineup:
Ricky Henderson CF
Don Mattingly 1B
Dave Winfield RF
Mike Easler DH
Ron Hassey C
Dan Pasqua LF
Mike Pagliarulo 3B
Willie Randolph 2B
Bobby Meacham SS
Tommy John SP
LAST YANKEE GAME:
Sunday, September 21st, 2008
Attended With: The Wife
Against: Baltimore Orioles
Result: Baltimore 3 - Yankees 7
Lineup:
Johnny Damon CF
Derek Jeter 2B
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jason Giambi 1B
Xaver Nady LF
Robinson Cano 2B
Hideki Matsui DH
Jose Molina C
Andy Pettite SP

I ended a 22 year relationship on Sunday.

There was no dividing of the things, fighting over the kids or pre-nup agreements. It was simply just two people who loved each other...saying goodbye.

I know what you're thinking...a little over the top.

Maybe.

But, think about this, apart from your family...how many 20 year+ relationships can you have in one life?

Yankee Stadium has played a major role in my life. From my first game against the Orioles in '86 (bat day), to my final game against the Orioles in '08, The House That Ruth Built has been there for me...seen me through good times...bad times & sad times.....all the while, remaining a fixture, a sanctuary if you will, to millions in the Yankee Universe (we're a lot bigger & more successful than any other 'nation').

Thankfully, my position as a world class coupon salesman enabled the wife and I to get tickets a few rows behind home plate. Basically, the best seats in the house. (Yes...It doesn't hurt to have a very generous brother with great connections!!! - THANKS SEAN)

As I walked into The Stadium on Sunday, I had this awesome sense of awareness. I could suddenly remember every game I had ever attended. every seat I had ever sat in, every homerun I had ever witnessed & every great (and not so great) Yankee I had ever seen don the pinstripes.

Rickey Henderson was my sporting hero as a kid. Some of you are thinking...man....low standards...but...in that baseball age (the dead ball era), Rickey was the one person who made watching the Yanks exciting...Mattingly was a predictable big talent & Winfield, to me, was an oaf with a big looping swing.....But Rickey...Rickey was intriguing to watch. If he got on base...LOOK OUT!!!! You just knew he was going to steal 2nd...and maybe even 3rd. He was a complete package....he could hit...he could hit with power...steal bases @ will & still play a solid Center or Left Field (I used to try an emulate the Rickey "snap catch" every chance I could). I will never forgive the Yankees for the day they traded him back to the A's for Eric Plunk, Greg Cadaret & Luis Polonia.

As for my other favorite Yankee...you could not find a greater opposite to Rickey Henderson than that in the person of Hideki Matsui. Hideki came to the Yankees with a lot of fanfare, a media circus and tremendous expectations. He plays the game the right way...hustles for every ball...calculates each at bat with precision...and, most importantly, realizes the great honor it is to wear the uniform every time he takes the field. Something that is lacking from almost every member of today's current Yankee team (apart from the obvious Jeter, Posada, Pettite).

Both of these players, along with countless others, have made Yankee Stadium my home away from home in the Bronx. That's why it was so hard to say goodbye on Sunday. This place, this mecca of baseball & American sport, has often time served as my sanctuary when life outside of its walls was in upheaval.

I can distinctly remember a game against the Royals in 1991. My parents were getting divorced, I was getting ready to graduate & go on to high school. Life was moving a mile and minute and at 13, I didn't realize the impact that spring / summer would have on the rest of my life. When things were at their worst, Yankee Stadium was there. My sister & brother-in-law took me to a game to get away from the Brooklyn madness. It was early April (umbrella day), and we sat in the upper decks, 1st base line, 1st row of the break (bought from a scalper moments before the game started). The Yanks lost that day (as they did alot in those days), but it didn't matter. Those 3 hours of baseball, Yankee baseball, were just the distraction that I needed.

As the city tried to process and recover from the aftermath of 9/11, the Yankees, and Yankee Stadium were there to comfort the residents of New York in their greatest moment of need. Whether it was the memorial service held at The Stadium days after the attack, Yankee players visiting shelters to meet with people looking for lost family members, or the nights of the greatest World Series ever played...That Fall, the Yankees served as the distraction we all needed from the harsh realities we were all facing at Ground Zero. For at least 17 nights (number of Yankee playoff games in 2001), we New Yorkers were able to focus on something other than despair. That Yankee team, regardless of the result, will forever be my favorite of all time...truly...America's Team.

Having only attended one World Series game (2000, Game 5 vs. The Mutts @ Shea), the electricity & atmosphere at the final game was unlike anything I had ever witnessed at The Stadium. From the the pre-game festivities, the game on the field to Ronan Tynan singing God Bless America along with 55,000 New Yorkers, the stadium was buzzing! It was an unforgettable night. And, as the clock struck time on the ballpark in the Bronx, none of us wanted to leave. We all wanted one more inning, one more game, one more night to take it all in. But alas, the last one out did turn off the lights...ending a memory-filled relationship which, for over 22 years, has been a constant to me.

As I stood there, arm and arm with the wife, tears rolling down the cheek, I made a conscious decision that this would not be the end. In fact, this would be the beginning. The beginning of my new life as a Yankee fan. We promised each other to make great memories at the new Yankee Stadium, with our own family. Something I look forward to for years to come.

BC

PS...as an add-on to this story...I want to take a second to say thank you to my dad. While we haven't talked in a couple of years, it must be said that his influence on me as a Yankee fan was enormous. My father, an immigrant, didn't really quite get the game of baseball...and when he finally did get it, he couldn't understand why the heck I would be a Yankee fan...the Mets....they were the working man's team....blue-collar in every way.

Even with that, my dad made an effort to bring me to Yankee Stadium as much as his schedule and wallet allowed. I can remember one night my dad coming across tickets 15 rows behind the Yankee dugout...it was amazing! A woman even got up and mooned Don Mattingly...a site I, or the 10 year-old version of myself, will never forget.

For all of his faults, he never denied me the true pleasure I had every time we walked out of the tunnel to our seats...and I must thank him for that.

The Week That Was (Or 8 Days At Least)

In the voice of the chef "HELLO CHILDREN!"

Man...can you believe Isaac Hayes is dead? Sorry...that was random.

It was a busy week in my wacky world of couponing so I have not had the chance to blog anything...get ready for the rambling.

I would like to begin this commentary by stating that I feel much younger than the age on my drivers' license. I may be 30...but I am hip...I am with it. Or maybe, just maybe, I'm not hip at all because by forcing myself to tell others I am hip, I am actually lowering my hip standards and therefore detracting from my overall coolness. Whether I am hip....or square...or hip to be square...I know that I do not feel or act my age.

However, last Sunday, I had an epiphany...I had that eye opening, mind clarifying, truth revealing moment where I was finally able to realize that in fact, despite my own previous declarations, I am an old fart. The catalyst of this heightened sense of awareness??? You guessed it, the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. I mean, C'Mon, even the name is an oxymoron, when the heck was the last time MTV played an actual video? Speaking of morons, what in the good F**K is up with this Russel Brand they hired as the host?

At first I thought he might be Jessie Camp's younger, more strung out cousin...or at least a distant relative of that master thespian Yahoo Serious (Remember Him?). Turns out I was wrong on both accounts. Boy, I wish I wasn't. I mean....what???? You couldn't even get the Wayans' to host? Surely you could have dug out one or two of them....there's like 70 of them after all.

You have a better chance of seeing a Beatles reunion next summer than having this ass clown host the VMA's again. Hell...he'd be lucky to get a job as the host of next years' AVM's! Well...if he got that gig, he'd get some kind of 'job' (insert rim shot here).

I could talk about this joker for another 3 hours, but that would be an insult to father time. Now...as for the rest of the show....once again....WTF?

Overall, the show was three hours of my life I will never get back. For that, I blame MTV. I blame those schmucks who have, in a short span of time, gone and ruined the hard work of their predecessors.

So, as to not ramble on for another 10 days, here are some highlights of stupidity I was forced to watch (and a few others I was able to tolerate).

1. Britney...Ok...MTV...we know you need her to make a real comeback...but....seriously....how do you have her make a clean sweep of all of the big awards?!?!?!?!
2. Pink...I thought the performance extras were a bit over the top. Overall, she kicks ass. I don't know a woman out there who could tie her shoes @ the moment.
3. The Jonas Brothers...can someone please tell me what the big friggin deal is? I have seen this before...they were called Hanson...and at least "MMM Bop" had a catchy hook...They sang that song on that stoop...it sucked! I was waiting for Kermit to come out waltzing down Sesame Street.
   
4. Promise Rings...when the biggest story coming out of the VMAs is about promise rings...or better yet...it involves Jordin Sparks in any way...you know its a slow news day.
5. Rhianna - P.O.A. & the best female pop star out there.
6. 'Lil Wayne - otherwise known as the man in Michael Phelps' ipod. I wonder if while Michael Phelps is listening to listening to 'Lil Wayne...is he imagining 'Lil Wayne wearing pants.....or at least ones that fit him?
7. Christina - even having child does not make you look like less of a hooch (i.e., Britney Spears). Not that there's anything wrong with that. What did it do? Her performance made her look more like a lip-syncer! And...she's the one who gets credit for actually being able to sing. You know...I remember one year @ the VMAs being able to look up the skirt of Shirley Manson for 3 1/2 minutes...Was it a hooch outfit? SURE! Did I care? HELL NO! At least she was singing
8. You are MTV...you are supposed to be the barometer of cool in the country...So...for your signature event...I know what to do!!! Dumb down your performance to a back Hollywood lot and fill it with a bunch of industry types who couldn't care less about what was going on. Yeah...great idea. I haven't seen an idea that bad since the SBU 6th Man section went horribly wrong.
9. Kanye...you are the man.
10. Once again...I don't give a shit...If you are a singer...an actor...a stagehand....CS Specialist.....WHATEVER....Here's a message..."I DON'T CARE TO LISTEN TO YOUR POLITICAL POINT OF VIEW!!!!"
    

Wow...Now I realize now how fired up that I was. I need a break. I need to a breather. ITS JUST MTV!!!! I will finish the rest of the week tomorrow....

I feel 30..... I need to get some sleep....Plus the number FIVE is not working on my laptop....I am still confused as to what to do.

Til tomorrow chillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllldren (sorry...I fell asleep holding down the "L" key.

BC

PS...just an afterthought. The definition of hip is to be familiar with, or informed about, the latest ideas, styles, developments, etc.: Therefore, since this blog is reporting on news that is more than one week old....by definition....it is not hip!In light of this new found identity of not being hip...here is a picture of me from my days working @ WPIG in Olean.

BC

The Annual Pilgrimage

September 6, 2008

Who says you can't go home?

Did I just commit a blogger crime by using a Bon Jovi song title as the intro of my post?

Oh well...that's what you get when you move to New Jersey.

This weekend marked the annual retreat back to "the block" for the 74th Street block party. This is one of the few annual events on our calendar that I truly look forward to. In one day, a city block manages to convert itself to an alumni reunion of family, friends & neighbors.

While most of us "kids" have moved away, we all seem to follow that homing beacon back to 74th Street every September.

More than most of its former inhabitants, I find myself on the block about once or twice a week so I tend to take it all for granted....the scenes...the houses....the sounds....the smells...all of it. The block party, however, is sensory overload. Its that electro shock stimuli that gets your brain to reminisce, to remember things that you forget on a daily basis.

Within minutes of sitting with the family I can remember things I shouldn't...specific things...moments in time that are often washed away with the passing of the years. I walk around the outside of my apartment building and I can remember whiffle ball games in front of the shoemakers' gate...I remember hitting my head on the fire hydrant after a rain storm (and my parents going to a diner before taking me to the hospital because they just HAD to eat). I can recall the kids who moved away when we were young & the new ones who moved in when were getting older. I remember the fights I got into...some won...some lost...all with the same result...friends again 5 minutes later.

People all have fond memories of their childhood...family vacations & the like. Yeah, we have those too....but....nothing has shaped me more as a man than growing up in Brooklyn, and specifically, 74th Street. While by no means was it the MEAN STREETS OF BROOKLYN, it was still Brooklyn and we went about our daily lives as if we lived in some exclusive Connecticut suburb because of 1 reason...we had the secure 4 corners of 74th street to protect us.

We learned how to respect our elders & respect one another. We were a family. And although a lot of this family has since moved away, when you get to see each other, you just know. You know that you were a part of something great that most will never know or experience.

Sadly, should I ever be blessed with kids, they will never know this kind of community amongst their friends. Not because we live in New Jersey, but because of the day & age we live in. Not to make this one of those cheesy email forwards...but its true. Nowadays, parents need to set up play dates for their kids...a play date in 1984 was looking out my sister's bedroom window to see who was out on the block. We didn't know facebook, myspace, PSP, computers or the internet.

We knew stoopball, pop-ups, the PS 170 schoolyard & Club 78.

We had it good.

The block party is our annual fix & we as junkies couldn't miss our scheduled dose. While Tropical Storm Hannah tried to wash out our fun, we braved the elements & took our hits. We camped under tarps & tents, drank cold beer, laughed & argued as families do...all under the watchful eye of 74th street...and we'll be there next year...in the same spot...doing the same thing...telling the same stories.

Thank God you can go home again.

Some People Still Have Class

Quick Observation - In today's world of facebook, text messaging, IMs, email etc., it is refreshing when someone still shows some class with a nice hand-written thank you note.

This is a forgotten gesture in today's world. Admittedly, I do this everyday - forget the old school courtesies we were brought up on.

A hand written note truly shows that the person on the receiving end of the initial gesture really did care about what you did for them. Something that is never truly conveyed through a digital medium of a cell phone, email or a website.

2nd Anniversary Celebrated With Style

September 2nd, 2008 - New York

I had a lot to do. Actually, we had a lot to do.

When our 1st anniversary went a little pear-shaped last year, we swore we would make it up to one another this year. When you combine illness & poor planning, the 1st anniversary was "paper" thin.

So, we knew this year would be better.

Where to start? Return to the scene of the crime. We decided to the spend the night @ The Hotel on Rivington...the place where I proposed to the wife back in March 2005. This place in unreal & in the Lower East Side of NYC...a true gem in NY.

Once we had the domicile for the evening, I started planning a day that neither one of us will forget anytime soon.

We started in the morning hitting up the spa for his & her treatments...laugh if you want boys & girls but my back has never been so knot free & my skin has never looked so good! No more porous nose for me!

Then it was on to lunch @ Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill
Now, I don't know if I necessarily call myself a foodie...at minimum I am a manwhore for restaurants owned by celebrity chefs. Have a show on Food Network? You're getting my money! With that being said, Mesa Grill delivered 110% on lunch @ a price I would have paid @ some shithole in Brooklyn.

Random Thought While Typing This: I am going to punch this guy Suede on Project Runway!!!!! Dude....unless you are a WWE wrestler or a member of the 'Lil Wayne entourage - YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SPEAK IN THE THIRD PERSON! I hope you have a hot mess on your hands & go home immediately!

I digress. Mesa Grill was off the hook & I highly recommend the BBQ Pork sandwich with a Mesa Grill margarita!

After a three hour nap (which I only get on days I take off in the middle of the week)...we started getting ready for the crown culinary jewel of the evening...dinner @ Gordon Ramsay at the London.
Remember...manwhore for celebrity chefs!

We actually toiled with this decision for weeks! I made the reservation almost 2 months ago & ever since, had gone back & forth on whether to actually go or not.

Despite reading a few bad reviews & a warning from a sibling, we proceeded with the plan....and THANK GOD we did.

It was the most thoughtful & decadent dining experience of our entire lives! Overstating? I don't think so! The menu was unreal, the wine pairing was perfect & service was attentive. Overall...a HUGE win for the night & an experience I would recommend to anyone.

The night was topped off with a nightcap @ our hotel bar back in the lower east side & completely tucked away from the craziness of midtown. Its amazing how a great glass of sambuca can just put a bow on a perfect evening.

Now that we made up for last year...I can firmly set my sights on ruining next years' anniversary!

BC

The Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

So...Sunday night was more than interesting.

The wife & I spent the day at my brother's house for a great labor day party. Ok...it was a little better than a party...add a volunteer fire department and a town hall & we would have officially been called a settlement.

Thanks again to Sean & Jackie for a great day.

Now...on to the ride home. Being the responsible adult that I am, I never....EVER...drive drunk. I purposely will not go places if I cannot get a ride home. Some people would say, "Why don't you just be the designated driver?" Really? No...why don't you be the designated driver. I like to have fun & I have NEVER been the designated driver...nor do I ever intend to. I would rather not go. Selfish? Maybe. Childish? Probably. Either way, if it comes to a night out, I make sure to always secure car service to bring me to & from my event.

This usually works out quite well...except on nights where car exhaust is unmercifully filtering throughout the cabin of the car. Now, the wife was warning me not to fall asleep because of the fumes...did I listen??? Of Course Not! Eventually the nausea, spinning & delirium set in. We pulled over @ exit 10 of the NJ Turnpike so I could get out to get sick....then the fit hit the shan...I proceeded to pass out...face first....THREE times. This is some seriously scary shit. Eyes rolling back in the heads & all kids!

Once I got back on my feet, inhaled some fresh oxygen & figured out where on the highway the wife was (OK - edit here....the wife was not sprawled out on the highway somewhere from the inhalation of toxic fumes - she was running down the highway trying to figure out where we were - I guess that's important to point out!) , we loaded back into the smoke box for the last 10 miles of the trip while doing our best dog impression with the heads out the window. We made it home safely and thankfully our lungs are once again functioning normally.

I would love to say that this was a near-death experience or that it has given me a new lease on life...Maybe it has...I don't know. What I do know is that this is now getting me to think about being the DD once in a while.

The Auld Firm - Not Tae Worry

Inevitably, this happens every year.

NOTICE TO ALL CELTIC FANS: DON'T GO JUMPING OFFAY A BRIDGE YET SONNY JIM!

While I bleed green & white like most of my brethren with Catholic ties to Glasgow, I refuse to subscribe to the end of the world philosophies every time we lose to the oppressors.

Someone once told me, "If we lose every league match in a year & only win the four Rangers matches, I would be perfectly happy!" WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP!

I would actually love for that to happen just once to see how people would feel; knowing we lost the league by 76 points.

The point is boys & girls, don't sweat it! Yeah, Rangers might have scored 4 goals @ Celtic Park for the first time in a Bazillion years...but so WHAT! We are the Champions....three years on the trot. And, we will be the champions until someone pries that trophy away from us in May. Last year, the league was not won & lost with Old Firm matches...whether we forget sometimes or not, there are other teams in the SPL we need to beat to be there in the end.

And besides, while they're at home, playing their flutes, getting shite tattoos & being overall baw bags...we'll be listening to Oasis, serenading Spanish birds & doing whatever it is they do in Denmark to deserve a team in the Champions League.

Til tha morraw!
BC

So, stop fannying aboot. Pick up yer boot straps & get on with it.

My Humble Beginning

Welcome to my little corner of the blogging universe. (Isn't that the standard blog intro?)

While I realize blogging is so 5 years ago, I finally think I have enough to say and a platform on which to say it. Or, I could just be fooling myself and wasting the little free time that I have.

Whatever the case, I figured a radio guy with a journalism degree who now sells coupons on a daily basis should have an interesting view of the world, at least I like to think so.

I would love to say that we are going to tackle many important topics here...I would love to say that, but I can't. More than likely, this is going to be a place to spew my complaints of the day.

Person staying too long on one machine at the gym? Hit the blog. Some deadbeat doesn't want to pay me? Hit the blog. Bad traffic for three hours? Hit the blog. Wife causing me all sorts of grief?????? Keep it to myself.

My puppy just put his head on my keyboard.....I have to go now.

BC