Thoughts of a Common Man

I could've gone with Game 5 of the World Series which was an epic affair, but MLB, in its ultimate wisdom starts the game at 8:30 on a Sunday night so anyone who works for a freaking living can't watch the end. I made it to the 7th inning. I was also a little aggravated with the celebrating whenever someone hit a single, but I've been told that I'm a cranky old bastard. I still enjoy the Yankees who mostly act like professionals and don't look like they just climbed out of a tree stand. Yeah. Cranky old bastard! Woke to the news that Manafort and others were arrested in the Russia election interference garbage. Mueller really hammered them with his first strike and it's going to get a whole lot worse. Who could've possibly predicted that a Trump presidency would have bumpy moments? There were reports late in the day that Trump is throwing tantrums in the Oval Office. Two things: Mueller made it clear that past financial crimes will be e...

North Collins, New York is a beautiful town, and through the years I've endured my children's jokes about taking the lawnmower to school, or graduating with only 11 people in my senior class (there were 83). The beauty of the town is in the people who made it up all those years ago. It seemed more like a club than a town! And dead-center of the town was Speedy's Bar. Behind the bar was Eddie Or Foxy, and later Eddie Jr. All three men are now gone after Eddie Sr. passed away this weekend. "You better knock it off, Fuzzy, or I'll call your father!" That was a danger of living in the small town. You'd walk in the door and your mother would say: "I already heard what you did." And there were so many men who were friends with my Mom and Dad, and they all treated us wonderfully. Eddie was certainly in that group. In fact, he was a legend! As we both got older we actually got closer. Eddie would tell me stories when we got toge...

My college roommate, Fluffy, who we all agreed was a tad off was fond of saying: "Humpty Dumpty was pushed." Well, perhaps, but what we do know is that he had a great fall. Friday night brought some news. Mueller has indictments. The arrests would be happening as soon as Monday. Who do you have in the office pool? Manafort? Flynn? Carter Page? They seem to be the low-hanging fruit. Yet, Saturday morning was crazy on Twitter and Facebook because there was all sorts of wild theories being bantered about. "It's for Obama and Clinton!" A number of hopeful people mentioned. "They sold all out uranium!" Mueller wasn't working on that investigation. Also, that particular item had been investigated twice already. Most of it has been pored over and debunked. So, speculation is a weird thing. "Trump is going to jail!" Is probably a tad premature as well. But who knows? Jared Kushner? When it comes to politics it...

We hear a lot of negative, don't we? Stories about heartache, and political garbage every single day. Mix in stories about mass shootings, daily murders, drug overdoses.. ...and it's easy to get down. Here in Buffalo there was a real tragedy. A young officer was killed during a training exercise. He drowned. It took an eternity to find his body. You could feel the heartbeat of the city beating as the sadness lingered. It was a story that I couldn't directly follow. I kept it on the periphery because as they searched for his body... ...I didn't want to let it all in. The funeral procession started in the Southtowns and stretched to the hockey arena where thousands gathered to say 'Goodbye.' I watched that part. And I thought about a little of the angst. People fighting on social media? Didn't even think about it. GOP versus Dems? No one in that procession cared. Pro-cop or Anti-cop?? Everyone was pro-cop for a few hours. I...

Tuesday was an interesting day. I moved around from site to site... ...limping like a son-of-a-pup... ...and I listened to news programming. I kept hearing about the fight between Bob Corker and Donald Trump. "He has trouble with the truth," Corker said. That was an odd thing to hear as a news blast. Normally, Trump does something ungodly and his "people" go out and say things like: "Ignore his tweets." Or "That's not what he meant." Instead, we were basically hearing: "He sucks." By the time I was writing reports Jeff Flake was telling the world that he wasn't running again because he didn't want to be complicit in the garbage world that he was living in. Flake's voice was cracking with nervousness as he absolutely ripped the president. Both guys are republicans!! And immediately following Flake's words Sarah Sanders stood up and defended Trump. She doesn't mind being complicit. ...

He won't go away. Bill O'Reilly was bounced off television. Like Cosby, Weinstein, Ailes... ...he couldn't keep his hands or his whatever to himself. He allegedly forced his way into women's lives when they wanted nothing to do with what he was pedaling. He settled lawsuits... ...one to the tune of $32 million. You don't settle for $32 million because you're being exploited. Don't you defend yourself against such blasphemy? If it's all a damn lie don't you at least pay less than however the hell how many figures are in $32 million? But Billo is pissed! At God!! I laughed out loud when I saw that headline. God??? God made him harass the women he worked with? God evidently owns The NY Times because they've been on a witch hunt! Damn fake news!! They reported the terms of the settlement because... ...get this... They didn't want Bill to be successful. You know why Bill settled all those suits against him? ...

I will get the first copies of the new book this week. The big D. It's my 12th book, and the new way to get the word out about it is a whole lot different than the old way! Here's a little secret for you. The publishers never do a whole lot unless you're Stephen King or John Grisham, and they aren't the guys who need it. Whatever. I don't much care. Sure you'd like to get it into as many hands as possible, but, and I was talking about this the other day, most people don't want to pay for art anymore. They think it should all be out there for free. Music, newspapers, books...all free! Like I've said, I've made peace with it. The writing is about the journey. Yet, I couldn't help but think about the early days. My first publisher sent out a post card to 200 people that I'd provided the addresses for. I had to call people and ask them their address so the could get the post card. I wonder if anyone actually bought a boo...

👎 👎 👎 👎 👎 Didn't happen. The Yankees had a golden opportunity to close out a good Astros team, but just couldn't catch a break in Houston. During a magical season they often got clutch homers and fine pitching. A lot of breaks went there way during the season, and they won games by coming back late, scoring in bunches, and wiggling their way out of jams by striking out batters. 👎 👎 👎 👎 👎 Didn't work out that way on Friday and Saturday. Runners thrown out at the plate. Balls being caught at or over the wall. Pitchers almost escaping a jam, and then giving up a bouncer through the infield. That's baseball. And I kept waiting for them to have the big inning, but they swung over curves... ...as Houston played their aggression against them. That's what happens with young players. A couple of years from now, Bird, Judge and Sanchez will lay off the off-speed stuff... ...and hopefully strikes will be called strikes.... And there will...

I don't attend many sporting events anymore. I haven't been to a Sabres game in years, and it's been even more years since I went to a Bills game. I catch a Yankees game maybe once a year if I can make it work in my schedule and I happen to be in a city where they are. Usually it's an enemy city and I make sure not to wear any Yankees gear because there are some goofy people out there and I don't need to be harassed. What caught my eye on Saturday was that a number of the participants were involved in altercations with their "fans". DeMarcus Cousins (basketball player) gave a two-word salute to a fan that was heckling him. The second word was 'You.' Cousins was fined by the league. Kyrie Irving of the Celtics requested that a fan perform a sexual act after the fan yelled out: "Hey, Kyrie, where's LeBron?" Even coach Jumbo Fisher got in on the act as he went off on a fan following a loss. It's an odd dynamic and i...

I suppose I have to check in on the Trump-Wilson-Kelly-Johnson deal. Let's check the story out: 1). Without prompting Trump attacks Obama and other presidents about not calling the families of those killed on the battlefield. He did it in his "I'm not sure, but I heard" bullshit way of being nasty. That's so he can deny it later when he's proven to be wrong. Whatever. It's petty and nasty and so stupid. In such a horrible circumstance what happens between the president and the family should remain there. The world doesn't need to know. 2). So, then he called the family of David Johnson and tried to relay a message that General Kelly had told him. When Kelly expressed the idea that Johnson died doing what he wanted to do, it sounded beautiful and honorable. Evidently that message was lost in translation as Trump's words, as reported by the congresswoman Wilson and then the family, sounded callous, as reported by the media. 3). Trump jumped...

So, the Yankees battled but couldn't get the big hit off Verlander. Them's the breaks. And now we're all set up for a winner take all game to go to the World Series. Fun, right? Maybe! I immediately started thinking of Game 7 scenarios. The big one was 2003. Yankees-Red Sux. Clemens versus Pedro and everyone in the world was on the Pedro bandwagon. I had a long drive to Syracuse that day and although it was a busy work day I couldn't concentrate at all. As I drove I listened to all the pre-game hype and no one was giving the Yankees a shot. Pedro was that good. And in the game, Clemens immediately puked all over his shoes. Yanks were down early and Pedro was dealing. Giambi hit two solo homers, but at 5-2 it didn't look good. I'll spare you all the details, but Pedro stayed in too long and Posada doubled to tie it. What seemed like 2 days later, Aaron Boone hit a walk-off homer to win it and at 1:45 in the morning, my cell phone rang so man...

Stumbled upon Rick Pitino on ESPN as he tried to explain that he didn't do anything wrong even though he was the coach of the Louisville basketball team that got caught up in some trouble with the FBI. I felt bad for Coach Rick for a moment there, but a couple of times he mentioned that anything that might have happened was between him and God. He was good with his actions and assured us that God was too. Maybe. Maybe not. What if God has a no tolerance deal with escorts, sex in restaurants with women who you aren't married to, alumni paying players, or $800 suits? Pitino is certainly right. He needs to make amends with any and all of his personal weaknesses. We all do. It just kind of makes my skin crawl when someone who is in trouble kind of lets the world know that it's all in God's hands. Sorry, but some of it sounds like something of a cop out to me. And Pitino looked sad. Is he sad because they were caught, or because feels victimized. ...

Was a little down in the mouth in Game 4. Yankees were down 4-0 in the 7th inning and I was working on my, "They were such a fun, young team. Their future is bright speech." Judge was up and Buck was telling me how many times he's struck out. (Buck does that every single time the kid comes up). And 💥 Dead Center. Into the monuments. "Okay, 4-1. At least they scored," I thought. "They're going to win," Sam said. I looked at my boy sideways. Young fans are the best. The next inning had me out of my seat (no small feat with my back aching). One tough AB after another. When Judge blasted another ball off the wall (after Buck told me he was susceptible to striking out).,. I yelled out: "There's the MVP! Not the cute little guy!!" By Birthday game day... ...we knew what would happen. Tanaka hardly broke a sweat. The fans going crazy. When the playoffs started I said that the Yankees would be in the World Ser...

Today's my 53rd birthday. "You don't look a day over 70." I heard that already a couple of times this week, and I had to agree. Back pain was the culprit this time. Been that way since Friday of last week. Birthdays have turned into a bit of annoyance with social media, I must admit. I, thankfully, get a lot of messages on Facebook and being OCD I have to answer them all. No blanket announcements for me. I have a Barnes & Noble gift card... ...courtesy of Mom.... She knows me well. "What kind of cake you want?" My beautiful wife asked. Doesn't matter. "How about dinner? Pasta? Right?" She knows me well. The Yankees will be playing so I know what I want more than anything else. Reggie hit 3 on my 13th birthday. Maybe Judge can do it 40 years later. And time flies when you're having fun. The back needs to improve. Yankees have to get to 4 wins before Houston does. Ah well. If neither of those things...

Every day there's something nasty. So sick of the nasty. Sometimes the nastiness is passed off as a joke. Other times it's locker room talk. Or it's just a horrible misunderstanding. Making fun of a handicapped guy? He made that move before. He wasn't making fun of the guy's hand! 2nd amendment people could do something about the political candidate that isn't pro-gun. Didn't mean it that way! But on Monday, there was no getting around it. The president and vice-president were bantering about gays. "Don't ask him. He wants to hang all of them," Trump said about Pence. Hahahahahahahaha! Funny stuff, right? And it's all been normalized. The "How many died?" To the leaders of Puerto Rico followed by the "that's not too bad. You should be proud." To the:  "We had a great time in Las Vegas." Nasty, stupid and accepted! "The grab 'em by the p***y" comment wasn't...

So, Harvey Weinstein has shown us that Hollywood is sleazy, huh? Shocking! I immediately thought of the old Stones song that has the chorus, "I'll take you to the top, baby." It's from 1980 and talks about a guy begging a young actress, asking her if she wants to be a star in return for favors. Look at Harvey, (who ran a business here in Buffalo promoting concerts before hitting the big-time), he isn't exactly Brad Pitt. Yet he had money and influence and he spoke out and donated and... ...everyone knew he was a sleazeball (allegedly) and they all let it go. Wink and a nod. 'Disgusting Harvey being disgusting Harvey.& And man, that's a life falling apart! His wife, his job, his company, his reputation, seemingly every friend. There was a quick news story saying that he was suicidal. Ya' think? The thing about bad behavior is that the dude doing it knows it's wrong. We've all questioned ourselves from time to time t...

Got cortisone injections in my hip on Friday, and it was kind of comical because I was tossed a pair of paper shorts prior to the shots. Couldn't get the ones she gave me over my thighs. I checked the tag: "Medium." WTF? I rifled through the drawer where the doc had grabbed the shorts, found what I thought were a bigger pair, and was pulling them up (and getting them stuck in the same spot) when the door opened. Had my own tighty-whities on or it might've been like the George Constanta shrinkage episode, but doc laughed anyway. "I haven't been a freaking medium for 30 years!" I said. We both laughed. "Doesn't matter. I have to cut them anyway." Took the shots, reminding myself that I was in for a nasty backache for 48 hours or so. Happens every time, but a funny thing about it. It still sneaks up on you! So, highly uncomfortable on Friday night and all day Saturday. "That sucks," a buddy of mine tweeted. "...

I've read some reviews on Bruce on Broadway. He starts the show much as he started his awesome autobiography by telling us he's a fraud... ...or a magician who fools his fans with sleight of hand... ...to a certain extent. I know of what he speaks. Back about 16 years ago I arrived at a conclusion when it came to writing books: "I can do this anytime I want." That was following "In Real Life." A book that made me cry when I was writing it! I had figured out the learning curve. I was doing it rather effortlessly. Fiction was a piece of cake. Then life intervened and I wrote 3 non-fiction books... ...all really difficult to write. All made me kind of hate the process, but all three books were my best efforts. But the fun was gone. Yet, in the back of my mind I still had a secret. I could write a 70,000 fiction story whenever I wanted to... ...and I would do it well. (Sometimes readers don't like the effort...nothing I can do a...

I didn't enjoy watching the baseball game on Wednesday night. It was a good game, mind you, but I was so tense all the way through. I enjoyed it at a little before midnight. For about three minutes before I went to bed, and I woke up with a singular thought... ...a great thought.... ...as I've done since the age of 12 after a big game: "The Yankees won." And a long time ago, George Steinbrenner was asked why he cared so much about winning: "Because Yankees fans have better days when we do," he said. Well, Uncle George forgot the other side of the coin: "Non-Yankees fans have bad days when they win." And judging from the heat I take when the Yankees do lose... ...well, good for them. Suffer a little. Because the Yankees are back. It was a long and painful rebuild... ...the Yankees had to trade Andrew Miller to the Indians so he could get a ring since the Yankees weren't going to compete... ...now he can watch th...

So the girls can join the Boy Scouts. Am I missing something here? Can boys join the Girl Scouts? Why is this a issue? Ah well. Do as you will, I guess. I saw a couple of crazy viral videos on Tuesday night. First, there was the horrible images from Northern California... ...the fire raging through, destroying everything and everyone in its path, and they have no idea how it started or how to contain it. Just tragic and coming off massive hurricanes, the Las Vegas massacre and soldiers getting killed... ...makes it tough to even watch the news.  I do know that seeing the images of destroyed lives was almost too much to take. And the fury. My son sent me the viral video of Eminem doing a freestyle rap that absolutely destroyed the president. It was more than interesting. It was a protest song in the new format of what music has become. I'm not the biggest fan of the medium, but my boys have set aside songs that they might think I can handle because of t...

Three times this past week the Yankees had to win or they were done for the year. They won all three. Wish I could say that I enjoyed every minute of it. The tension is almost too much, and while this year's team wasn't supposed to be there yet. They're there. Might as well win. There was a moment in the Yankees 1-0 win on Sunday night when I thought: "Damn, what a great game." It was a specific at-bat, actually. Tanaka versus Jay Bruce. Tanaka throws the ball to the low part of the strike zone. Bruce is a great low-ball hitter. The first pitch was low, Bruce swung through it. The next pitch was lower. He missed that too. I was thinking about Tanaka changing the eye level to get strike three. He went lower. Another swing and miss. I actually laughed. There's not a better game. And tonight there's a Game 5. Cleveland is home with their ace on the mound. Yankees are starting the old dog, and playing with house money. Winner ta...

If you're a working professional it's probably not a grand idea to let someone video tape you snorting a white powdery substance while you talk about your love of a "model". Especially if you're a professional coach of a NFL team. The Monday morning news was dominated by the video that hit the social media feeds and then was talked about everywhere. The coach was a line coach for the Miami Dolphins and I'm pretty sure that he was promptly let go. Like everyone else I caught the video on Twitter and immediately wondered what the hell was wrong with the guy. Evidently he didn't think it all through. He made the video to pledge his love and he got burned by it. Big time. How does he get another job? "I built a line with young athletes and I molded them into a cohesive group." "Yep, yep. I see that. Why did you leave your last job?" "I got filmed snorting coke and the woman who I thought I loved released it to the...

Harvey Weinstein is allegedly facing his own Bill O'Reilly and Bill Cosby. Creepy bastards. And it really blows my mind when I hear such stories. I've mentioned it a lot of times, but I've always been surrounded by strong women... ...who were treated respectfully. Mom and Dad would battle a bit, but Mom was always an equal in the partnership and was the strong one. "Make sure you thank your mother," Dad would remind us. But the attacks are real! News came down that birth control is going to be more difficult for woman to obtain. I don't quite understand that. I thought that the agenda was to eliminate choice on abortion. Doesn't it stand to reason that eliminating the opportunity to get birth control result in MORE abortions? And why are old, white men regulating women's bodies and decisions? "It's funny hearing a woman talking about pass routes," QB Cam Newton said at a news conference. A colossally dopey thing to...

I'm a demanding guy. Much of the frustration I've felt in life has been based on incompetence. I get irritated very easily when someone is supposed to do something and they do it badly. Then it's worse when they don't own up to it, and instead act as if you're the problem because of the irritation. I try to hide it most of the time. It all boiled over on Friday night during the baseball game that was started at 5:00 and was supposed to be over at a manageable 8 or 8:30. It started with the incompetence of the home plate ump who jumped out from behind the plate and adamantly pointed the Indians batter to first because he was hit by a pitch. Turns out it wasn't. The ball hit the bat and the catcher hung on. Officially, the batter was out. Unofficially he was on first to load the bases, bringing the best Indians hitter to the plate. More incompetence! The Yankees manager didn't ask for the replay. He may not have because the guy who is paid ...

It used to be an annual thing. I'd be so tired in October from watching the Yankees battle deep into the night that when they finally didn't make it to the World Series in 2002, I was actually a little relieved. This year's team has been so much fun that I would've been disappointed had they not won the wild card game. I wanted more. So, the matchup with the Indians was something I was looking forward to. But I forgot about the being tired part! Been getting up at around 5:15 every day. That's no good when the game ends at 11:15 like it did on Thursday. "Sleep fast," my Dad used to say. And everyone keeps talking about the games taking too long. They do, I suppose, but make no mistake, it's not all about the game. Way more commercials!! Way more pitching changes!!! Way more throws to first and walks to the mound to talk!!! And the announcers talk and talk and talk and talk. Baseball doesn't have to be over-analyzed. Just...

It's been so difficult to watch the news coverage of the survivors speaking about the Vegas massacre. Friends losing friends, wives losing husbands, boyfriends losing girlfriends... ...and thankfully the news is concentrating on those lives that were cut short, and sparing us some of the details of the madman who did this. It's all so heartbreaking. And the people who survived, talking about ducking and running for cover. There's really no way to fully comprehend all of it, but I must admit that when I saw U2 last month, I actually considered something of the sort happening. It crossed my mind when I sat down and looked around. Sitting ducks. "Nothing you can do," a guy on one of the jobs said. "He planned it for months and months, had it all worked out. When evil plots, there's no stopping it because none of us can conceive that someone would do such a thing." He had a point. "There has to be something we can do!" I said....

At least mine is. They actually did a long research study on the way we use our phones... ...and that's what they came up with. While we enjoy receiving notifications from our friends... ...everything else is driving us insane. Let's see: This is what beeps and/or buzzes for me: Phone calls, texts, emails, Facebook notifications, Twitter messages, Yankees scoring changes, major news alerts, and any alarms that I might set. That's a lot of information coming at you in the course of a day. And of course, that's how business is done these days. I actually don't get a lot of straight up phone calls anymore. My beautiful wife prefers to call, some of the older owners call, but if the phone rings it's usually someone I haven't met yet. I have Bruce for a ring tone... ...I actually alternate between Bruce, the Stones and Mellencamp because I don't want to leave one song there too long because I'll end up hating it. Is there any s...

Damn! The big D claimed Tom Petty. Another hero from my youth... ...gone. Corinne actually introduced us to Tom Petty before 1980. She bought his record and played it for us. I was an instant fan. I bought every record. Listened to them over and over. I had a chance to see him perform, and he tore the place down while drinking a bottle of Jack Daniels. Turned into a 30+ year love affair with all of his stuff. It's shocking when a 66-year old man drops dead. And to top it off, it all came down on the day when Las Vegas and the horrific news of that horrible event was crushing all Americans. "What the hell?" My friend texted me. "I don't even want to pick up the phone anymore," I said. The greatest hits listing of songs raced through my brain. And one stuck: Runaway Trains. Back in 1987 I really thought about death for the first time. A young girl passed away in a car accident. "She's up there all alone. I'm down he...

What a bunch of idiots we have become. How many died last night in that mass shooting? 58? That seems to be the latest count with hundreds more wounded. And what is on social media? Almost instantly? Fights! About guns, about religion, about politicians. And then the thoughts and prayers. Stop it! I didn't even want to look at any of it. Woke up on Monday morning and grabbed the phone. there were ten news alerts. Ahh shit! How can we not do something to improve our lives???? Are we free???? Really? We can't even guarantee that people can gather for a freaking concert of a marathon or in school... ...and we don't want to do anything about any of it! Just go off to our corners, dig in and call the guy or gal who don't agree with you an idiot. I have news for all of you. We're all idiots! We're watching it crumble... ...and we can all gather in the debris of what we once had... ...and argue about who the hell's faul...

Woke up on Sunday morning to the news that Orenthal had been released from prison. I clicked on and read the article about where he might choose to live, and when he will grant his first interview. Why are we drawn to him? What should happen is that he lives his life free of any our speculation. He's a rotten human being... ...yet people will remain interested. Then we have the hurricane Maria response argument, and regardless of whether or not people think the facts are being skewed or not, the Donald railed on a Twitter about those people wanting everything done for them. A colossally dumb thing to say... ...kicking people when they're fighting to stay alive. What got me about it was that immediately after the tweet was published a Trump supporter was on one of the news shows breaking down why it was the right thing to say at the right time. The guy was spinning himself into the ground trying to make the nonsensical make sense. "They should try and he...

Here we go!! I'll be honest here... ...if you would've held a gun to my head in April I would've said that the Yankees weren't going to make it. I had them pegged at 84-85 wins and thought they'd fall short of the wild card game. They won more than 90, and would've won the East had the Suck Sux not used Apple Watches to steal two games. Whatever. I'm good with all of it because I really believe that the Yankees are good enough to win it all. I'm not saying they will, but they're good enough. The shame of it all is that because of those watches we are going to have to watch the two best teams in the AL play in round one. The Yankees will beat the Twins in AL Wild Card Arizona will beat Colorado in the NL Wild Card Then I have Washington beating the Cubs and Arizona beating the Dodgers. Washington will beat Arizona to make it to the World Series where they will play??????? The Yankees!!! New York will beat Cleveland 3-1. (Ya...