Category Archives: sports

October 24, 2014 · 3:33 pm

Bowling for Ebola

bowling
I don’t mean to be flippant about something so serious as Ebola, but sometimes I simply think in NY Post headlines.

This little jewel of a title popped into my head during today’s most delightful early morning dog field banter that starts my week days. (I love these people!)

Today’s topic? Why would Dr. Spencer, who had just returned from Africa treating ebola patients with Doctors Without Borders, ever think it was a good idea to go BOWLING within a week of his return? AND, when he was already feeling ‘fatigued’?

Bowling? Really? Was this urgent. ‘Damn, I have been out of the country for weeks, I really need to bowl!’

Here’s a little tidbit from the NYT Well blog that might make us all feel a little better about all of this:

If someone left blood, vomit or feces on a bowling ball, and the next person to touch it did not even notice, and then put his fingers into his eyes, nose or mouth, it might be possible.

Ok, do I need to comment on this or does its total absurdity speak for itself? Of course I do, that is why I am here! Because, you know, sometimes I am so damn focused on my bowling score that I totally miss the blood, vomit or feces on that ball and go right on playing. And then of course lick my fingers or pick my nose.

The consensus? Those with the greatest amount of education are sometimes the least intelligent amongst us. Or perhaps he did not work for Doctors without Borders, but instead Zach Galifianakis’ favorite charity, Doctors Without Diplomas.

#bowlingforebola… what do you think. Could this trend?

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August 8, 2011 · 10:57 pm

Time to Cry Tuesday – Put me in coach

Last week I received an email from the famous Thread. If you are not familiar with these fabulous friends of mine you can read about them here. If you are not inclined to read more than one post from me today, in a nutshell, these are my college friends. And let’s just say I am way out of college! But they have remained my friends forever and we share our lives on an email thread that has been going for years.

Last week, one of our own hit the heights of paternal joy. Not many get to experience this one, and we are all happy to live vicariously through him.

After the email went out I am pretty sure I heard a collective parental gasp and sigh all around the country. Thanks, Uncle Neal (no, I do not know why we call him that) for sharing the joy of one of your oldest friends with us. It went something like this:

Congrats to David Goldschmidt (Goldy). His son, Paul, was called up to play in his first Major League game for the Diamondbacks last night in SF. (He and his wife were there). He is 24 and got married last year to his college sweetheart. I have met him over the years and he has grown into a really fine man. Google him. He is quite impressive.

Wishing him all the best of luck and success in the big leagues. His dad was pretty good in Little League, too.

By the way, the kid had a hit in his first big league at bat! Not too shabby!!

As if that were not thrilling enough, the next night he HIT A HOME RUN!

After all the congrats were sent and the proud dad sent us a quick note telling us What a Long Strange Trip it’s Been, Uncle Neal caused yet another cross-nation tear-jerker with this one:

Goldy, I still get to call you Goldy, right? Ernie, (Dave’s father or as I affectionately call him, Mr. G) must be out of his mind. I remember, in your old house in Natick, your dad had a photo of Ted Williams hanging in the den above the TV. Who knew that 40 years later, you would have a son that would deserve to have his photo up on that wall!

Look, I am not a big baseball fan. And I (sadly) have lost touch with this friend over the years. But last week we were all family again. And one of our own had hit the bigs. All of us parents who drove carpools to sporting events, spent late nights in the ER with sprained ankles (and worse), raced home from work to catch games that ultimately were rained out or our kids were benched, knew the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat if only on the Varsity level… we all watched as our friend got the biggest payoff of all times.

His

kid

made

it!

And there is nothing better than sitting in those stands watching your child realize his dream.

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March 28, 2011 · 10:29 pm

Time to Cry Tuesday – 29-1

Never count your chickens before they hatch. Period.

Everyone should live by this rule. In business. When playing MegaMillions (ok, so maybe I spent a little of the 340 mil this weekend in my mind). And especially in sports.

This past weekend a young man who is very special to us (understatement) was fortunate enough to be on the other side of the chicken counting. His HS basketball team went into the state finals against an undefeated team in their division. This very cocky opponent team came into the semi-finals 28-0. They won the semis and simply assumed that the finals were theirs for the taking. So much so that they had ’30-0′ shirts made up before the competition.

NOT!

In a harrowing, nail biting, moms (and dads) in tears victory, the other team came back in the second half to…

win by 25!

About those chickens. : )

(FYI, the original article about these shirts has been changed to state they were a ‘mistake’… I’d say so)

 

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November 14, 2010 · 8:51 am

Hoosier Daddy? – Big 10 Football

Ah, Big 10 football and a rainy morning in Madison, Wisconsin. The late morning kick-off is no reason not to pre-game when you are in college. And for the young woman on the left, the mid-40 degree weather and drizzling chill was no reason to wear sleeves either.

This apartment was a half a block from Randall Stadium and there were no shortages of cheers from the crowd as they passed them by. You have to love the spirit of college football; and the complete joy they get from being fans.

This was the last home game my daughter, the senior, will attend as a student and marked the end of the first season for my son, the freshman. With a final score of  83 to 20 this home season went out with a bang. (this is not the official last home game which takes place Thanksgiving weekend, but it is the last one for my kids). UW set a school record and tied a Big Ten record for points scored and scored more points than any other FBS team this season.

I must apologize to you all for not getting the best shot of the day, which was the two guys walking down the street in the freezing cold rain in nothing but sneakers and badger g-strings.

I know, I am slipping up, sorry.

 

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August 23, 2010 · 9:55 pm

Time to Cry Tuesday – The Last Play at Shea

(For those of you expecting a Time to Cry about sending my boy off to college this week… no can do. He is still here and the mantra is ‘hold it together’, so wait till next week for that one.)

Saturday night made me remember all the reasons why I love to be a New Yorker. This is a town like no other, and this particular night proved why being born and raised here is still something to be proud of.

Citi Field, a perfect summer evening and a unique sort of show that could only be dreamed up in the city that never sleeps. We went thinking this would be a fun sort of evening, a little barbeque tailgating with great friends and $10 tickets to see a movie about the Billy Joel concert that closed Shea. What could be bad about that? Little did we know what a gem of a film we were about to see.

I will not claim to be either an avid Mets or Billy Joel fan but I will tell you that this film made me realize what a huge part they both played in my coming of age.

Shea Stadium was that big ugly building that let me know we were almost home after a long road trip as a child. A place where my parents took us to see our first baseball game. Billy Joel’s music played as the backdrop to my adolescence. All the milestones of growing up were marked by the history that this film so elegantly illustrated. Sports, music, joys and sorrows that New Yorkers have endured through the 40+ year history of a man’s career and the stories of a Stadium and a team.

1965. The Beatles played Shea. I was 6. Do I actually remember it on TV in my house or is that memory of the retelling? Hard to say.

1969. All I could think of was kids listening to that game on transistor radios walking home from school with friends.

1986. Game 6, we were painting my friends kitchen in her new house and screaming at the game.

2001. September 21st. I still get chills at the thought of a New York still numb in a post-9/11 stupor; grieving as one family at the horror we had witnessed, as Piazza hit that 2-run homer that felt like hope. Maybe there was a chance we could think of living again.

And woven in between the stories of Billy Joel’s career were stories of the lives of Shea like Pete Flynn, the groundskeeper who not only drove The Beatles to the stage in a Cadillac in 1965, but then drove Paul McCartney to the stage again to close the Billy Joel concert that last night. And of course Billy, who stood humbled on the stage, in awe of being chosen to close that icon of a stadium that he too had grown up with. As he said, ‘Hey, I haven’t put out a new body of music in almost 15 years and this place is filled tonight. Thank you all.”

What a night. The world’s biggest drive in filled with the world’s greatest fans. And they cheered, and teared up. And breathed a collective sigh of appreciation at the end for a beautiful night out in NY. Nothing fancy. Nothing expensive. Just deliciously nostalgic and inspiring in its spirit of hopefulness.

As Paul McCartney ended the show with Let it Be, it was hard to think of anything else more to say.

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August 21, 2010 · 11:29 pm

Citi Field, some messed up tickets and the Odd Couple

Stay tuned for the full post on the most amazing Saturday night. We saw The Last Play at Shea, a must see film simultaneously chronicling the history of Shea Stadium, the Mets and Billy Joel‘s career. More about this on Tuesday.

Tonight’s post is about a moment. One that took place right in the middle of an annoying sequence of events that led us to the ticket office at Citi Field due to bad computer print-outs. We were waiting patiently for the sweet, but very slow moving woman behind the counter to give us new, scan-able tickets when another guy in front of us went into a scene that was too good to be true. It made me realize at that moment, THIS was the reason that our tickets were screwed up (not a printer in urgent need of print head cleaning).

He said to the girl behind the counter that was certainly too young to know what the hell he was talking about, “You’ll remember my name, right? It’s Jeff Unger. You know, like Felix Unger, only I am truthfully a lot more like Oscar Madison.”

That was all I had to hear. Gary and I are HUGE Odd Couple fans. When I turned to look at him he gave me that exaggerated Ohhhhhhhh sort of face like the Little Rascals and then promptly broke into  the following song from the Odd Couple. (one of our favorites). Sometimes you are simply in the right place at the right time.

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March 1, 2010 · 9:07 pm

Time to Cry Tuesday – 24.4

If you know me, you would know I am a not much of a sports fan living in the land of sports fanatics. My husband will watch, or play for that matter, any sport on earth. I call him game boy, affectionately of course. My kids are major college basketball and football fans. Some of my closest friends, men and women, are rabid athletes and spectators. One of my girlfriends even started this sports website for people just like myself; sports indifferent women who need to know enough to survive in at least a basic conversation of sports current events.

Of course I have been a major fan when my kids played sports. I have learned to have an affection for basketbal, field hocky and soccer through them. And when they suffered defeat I grieved right along with them. They fall and we bleed.

But there is one professional sport that I have always loved to watch. BC (before children) we had Rangers season tickets and I would scream in The Garden with the best of them chanting to a good Potvin sucks. There is something about the speed and finesse of that sport that I always got a charge out of.

Ahhhhh, you say, the post title: 24.4 – now you get it! If you were one of the 27.6 people who watched the final Olympic hockey game between Canada and the USA, that number makes a whole lot of sense. If you have just crawled out from under a rock, Zach Parise scored a tying goal with 24.4 seconds left in regulation time, throwing the game into a 4 on 4 overtime. This entire game was probably the most exciting hockey I have ever watched. What a pleasure to watch a clean hockey game. We screamed so loud during the game the dog left the room. I swear I had chest pains (relax Mom, that is just an expression).

AP Photo

Sadly, the glory of the 24.4 was short lived when Sidney Crosby shot a goal past Ryan Miller 7:40 into overtime. Talk about the agony of defeat. I could not help but think about Ryan Miller’s mom at that moment (sorry I am still a girl even if I do sound all sports macho in this post).

Kudos to the Canadian team on taking the gold in their national sport on home ice. They are a lovely country, a good neighbor and were wonderful hosts for the Games. If we had to lose to anyone I am glad it was them.

But again, to Ryan Miller’s mom, my heart goes out to you babe.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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February 13, 2010 · 12:45 am

Olympic Malfunctioning Caldron and Other Fails

I waited all week for this. I LOVE the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. I know it is a little corny but I can’t help it. And I have to say I was greatly disappointed. The last winter olympics opening ceremony in Beijing was so spectacular, this simply fell flat. Even the logo was so much cooler last time.

There was, however, one tremendous highlight for our family. The Canadian National Anthem was sung by a 16-year-old super talent named Nikki Yanofsky. And why do we care? Because not only is Nikki an alum of my kids’ camp, she was my daughter’s camper. Check out her official Olympic song here. It hit #1 on Canada’s itunes. Chills from this one. You go Nikki, we are very proud!

Back to the opening ceremonies. Here are my top 5 fails:

5. First half hour… painfully boring. I kept looking for the Cirque style bungee jumpers and fell short with beads and head dresses.

4. What was the criteria for being one of the dancers in the white outfits, did you just have to have legs?

3. Opera singer… OMG who thought it would be a good idea to do that after 11PM?

2. The speeches: 2 old guys droning on for 15 minutes after 11:30? Bilingually. Seriously!

And the number 1 fail of the ceremonies, the one we are sure that someone was fired for, the one that brought about all sorts of cursing behind the scenes (in French AND English) would be…

1. The caldron malfunction!

Although they were fortunate enough not to have a nipple show during this sucker, we did notice Wayne Gretsky getting awfully antsy waiting for those poles to rise.

All in all, this was a sleeper. Although we were quite fond of the suspended thing that had a Georgia O’keefe Tri-vaginal quality about it. I believe Larry knick-named it The Trigina. (another Urban Dictionary entry for sure).

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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February 7, 2010 · 10:48 pm

Superbowl ad roundup

Yeh, I am one of the people who is more into the ads than the football. Although this year I was a little bit into the football since I have an affection for the Saints after my trip to New Orleans. Or maybe it is more the Saints fans that I loved. Whatever, I am happy for a city that has known so much pain to have a real reason to celebrate (as if they need one – that town can party!)

Back to the ads. I will give a blanket opinion… they sucked. Except, of course, for talking babies because no one will ever get tired of them because, well because they are talking babies! And Milkaholic was a great word. So E-Trade, you got it right and keeping with what works was a good idea.

Ok, how about Pop Secret? (or whatever popcorn brand it was) with the people as dolphins which was just damn creepy. And that unforgettable tagline: Awesome + Awesome = Awesomer. Um, yeh, that’s brilliant, right? I have sat in on many a creative presentation in my day. I can’t imagine who on earth would not only approve that but agree to sign a check for it. The group I was with decided the boss’s 11 year old kid came up with it, they forced it on the agency and they figured they would save some money on creative. Big fail!

Then there were the series of women bashing, “I am tired of being a ‘whipped’ husband” type of ads. The best line of all was in the Dodge Charger commercial where one of the lines in between “I promise to be nice to your mother” and “I will always take out the recycling” there was this gem of a line “I will hold your lip balm in my pocket.” C’mon ladies, how many of you out there ask you husband to ‘hold your lip balm’. Aside from every one of these ads looked like they hired their talent from one single casting call, I wonder why in the year 2010 we are not evolved enough to avoid playing into the obvious neanderthal ads making being a husband seem like the worst job on earth. Oh and of course there was the Dockers ad with all the guys in a field in their skivvies. The point of that was, “Put your pants on” Um, again, huh?

So… I am sticking with my opinion that Pepsi made the best move of all by taking all their millions and deciding to make a difference. Check out the Pepsi Refresh Project. Take a stroll around the site and check out the many ways they are going to make a difference in the coming year…

Instead of goofing on guys and making wives look like a pack of blogging, oops I mean nagging biatches.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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January 4, 2010 · 8:41 pm

Time to Cry Tuesday – Say a little prayer

basketballwithmike

Ok, grab a tissue now because this one brought my whole family to tears.

High School sports. High stakes in the lives of young athletes who dedicate themselves to being the best they can be in order to play their game of choice in college. They switch schools, travel endlessly and make any sacrifice asked of them in order to realize their dream. They never quit and they never say die.

However, the tricky thing about sports is how in a split second the game can change. Not the game, but the GAME. The whole ball of wax sometimes hinges on a moment in time. This weekend we witnessed one such moment. Our boy (not our genetic one, but the one we choose) came down wrong on his ankle and was carried off the basketball court. In those minutes after the injury the shock, fear and anger was so thick you could cut it with a knife. And that was me, can you imagine how he and his real parents felt.

I have written about this young man before when his team won the state championship. (I recommend that you click that last link as his story is a great one – don’t worry, I will wait).

I am happy to report that with any luck the injury is hopefully only a sprain. But the pain in the heart runs way deeper with the realization that you just never know. I am a fatalist. And a coper. And that is fine when I am dealing with my own stuff, but when it comes to one of the kids – not so much. When you see a young person work so hard for something you want to see them succeed. And yes, the coping piece is a big lesson, but not today, k?

He is a trooper. Right after the ER visit he was sitting at the dinner table pounding cupcakes and cracking jokes, trying his best to suck it up when we all knew how hard this was for him. BTW, We were quite impressed with his skill of eating a cupcake whole in one bite. (oh to be 16!)

So, on this Time to Cry Tuesday, I want all of you out there who have ever had a dream – whatever your religious persuasion (and even you atheists) – say a little prayer for our guy to get back on that court again soon and play his heart out…

before he drives his mother absolutely crazy.

(had to use this picture again because I simply love it. The one on the right is my son)

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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