Thoughts of a Common Man

If Rickey Henderson were 29 years old and a free agent in 2024 he’d get a billion dollars. He was quite simply one of the top 5 players I’ve ever seen play, and I saw Aaron, Mays at the end, and every player from 1970 to now. Rickey did everything! If he walked to lead off a game he was on 3rd about 4 pitches later. No one will ever steal that many bases. He had power. When I heard he died I immediately thought of watching a Yankees-Indians game - late in the year - Yankees were down 2 with 2 outs and 2 on in the 9th. The stadium was rocking. The lowly Indians were about to beat the mighty Yankees. Rickey hit it about 450’. My brother Jeff was beside me. We were merciless to the Indians fans all around us. Rickey hit for average. He always batted around .325. Rickey had charisma. He made the snap catch. He told stories about how great Rickey was, and he always seemed to be laughing. Hall of Fame? Absolutely! Just an amazing athlete. When I heard he died of pneumonia at the young age of...

Every once in a while the text will land in my phone. “Who’s up for lunch?” The text is started by another safety guy. Our schedules don’t always line up so that all of us can make it, but Christmas is a lighter work load. We had six safety guys around the table. We’ve all worked together for more than 30 years. In that time we’ve found the best spots and I was the one who suggested our favorite Chinese place. “Red Pepper!” And it’s funny but whenever we have the get together my wife mentions: “You had lunch with the girls?” The conversation is free and easy. The laughs come quickly when we reminisce about  something once of us said or did. We don’t normally talk much about the bad incidents that we had to investigate. Every one of us has had the truly bad day. There’s a professional courtesy that we have established through the years that allows us to ignore those stories. It’s funny, but we all met back when we were just starting out in the business. The oldest of us was in their...

There’s not a whole lot to be excited about when the temperatures are low and Christmas bells are ringing. During this time of the year most of the people you chat up on the jobs are elsewhere, mind-wise. But the thing about life is it goes on. I still had to make my visits. My first gig was a bit of a drive away, and I talked myself into the walk-around knowing there was a scaffold stair climb to a high roof. The scaffold stair was gone. Replaced by a 40-feet ladder. “Bah!” I eyed the ladder from the parking lot.  Checked the time. “Just the thing a 60-year old man needs at 8:03 AM. A 40-feet climb with 28 degrees showing on the thermometer.” I find that the best way of handling such a task is going straight at it, and don’t look down. I got to the roof deck and the foreman laughed. “You’re a safety dude,” he said. “Can’t you sit in a warm office and pretend that you’re working on a program?” I laughed. He’s very perceptive. A lot of safety dudes definitely try that. “Just messing...

There are only a handful people in life who will show up for you every time. I have been blessed with a lot of good buddies and was reminded again when the heat at my Mom’s was acting up… …was working well enough but not on all cylinders. Now, as we all know by now, I know absolutely zilch about diagnosing such a problem. I was living here for about a decade before I knew where our hot water tank was. “There’s some shit like that in the room over there,” I told the repairman when he looked at ours. He gave me a weird look. “Yeah. This is it,” he said. “Do you want me to put a post-it note on it so you remember?” Anywhoha… …I was trapped in my own dizzy day when my sister asked me if I could see if my buddy could help. He didn’t hesitate. We have another great family friend who plows snow at Mom’s - down to the pavement. I ran into him one day and thanked him. “Oh, your Dad would haunt me if I ever let it go,” he said. And it’s Christmas time and I normally do a lot of reflecting during...

Years and years and years ago, a young man took a job working in a construction office. He learned construction at my Dad’s right hand. Years and years ago, I met the middle-aged man on a job and he asked me about my surname. “Is John your Dad?” I nodded. “Man, I love that guy.” I put my new friend in touch with my Dad and then I set into working with the guy who learned from my Dad. Dad mentioned that: “He was always love sick about a girl. I think he married her.” Years ago, the man retired and when he left, he put his phone on the counter and just left. I missed him, but I didn’t try too hard to get in touch with him. He was retired.  Enough is enough. He called me yesterday and his voice and his laugh were as strong as ever. “I got to thinking about you,” he said. “I’m a bachelor now.” I was afraid to ask. “My wife was diagnosed last December. She went fast. I’m okay.” I said all the things that people say when they hear such news. “It’s okay,” he said, twice more. He laughed n...

I knew, at the start of the NFL season, that it would be virtually impossible to stay away from all of the games - - I’ve done very well, but my friends and family are excited because the Bills are very good. There’s no getting  away from the NFL - they own Sunday and Las Vegas and every community that has a team. I do a lot of things not being emotionally involved in what I consider to be a barbaric game. I was always a big football fan. CTE ruined it for me. Junior Seau was a great player - he’s dead - he shot himself in the chest, hoping that they’d study his brain to show the damage done. They did study his brain and hid the results. Then the public found out and oh boy!!! Everyone shrugged. On Sunday, I cooked and played with Ollie and read a book. The game was on, and I looked at the screen when someone scored… …I also looked at the screen when the cart came out to get one of the wounded warriors. The announcer was whispering to show his concern for the badly injured player. ...