Thoughts of a Common Man

We learned about the civil war back in high school. It always seemed odd to me that our country had once been so divided that Americans were content to kill Americans. Like all other wars, that war has been romanticized a bit and statues were placed, and an alternate flag was flown and is still being flown. Only Americans suffered. And much as I thought when read about Hitler, I didn’t actually think we could ever again see Americans versus Americans on any war field. We’d learned too much! No way that can happen again! Well, here we are: Americans against Americans. Feels very Hitler-like when the guy who golfers every weekend day, is sending out texts messages and is spreading conspiracies meant to inflame. Job 1 as present is to keep the citizens safe. Fanning the flames isn’t doing that. Throwing Up hate every morning must be exhausted. But I kind of get it.’ Here we are. Let’s hope that common sense prevails and that our Democratic way of life is preserved because right now the ci

Like everyone else in 2020 we’ve watched a lot of shows, and movies. We’ve looked around at everything and we’ve caught a bunch of trailers. The plots all seem to run together. We caught a break on Saturday night. Rented a movie that we’d heard nothing about: The Short History of the Long Road and I liked it for a lot of reasons. One is that it’s set out west and I’ve always enjoyed driving through that part of the country. Every glance is like a post card. The main characters also live a life of wander. They moved along in a van with just the clothes on their back. Made me think of my old friend, Zane Conway, who has most likely traveled the entire world by now. Last I heard from Zane he was in China, and loved it there. The time before that he’d been in South America and mentioned that the most beautiful girls in the world lived there. “Would be fun to just move from place to place,” Kathy said. “When I was younger,” I said. The road. Sam and Johnny have had a summer of movement, bel

  This week has truly been perhaps the most unsettling of all the weeks of my life. I’ve always been an optimistic person and one who stays present in the moment. It’s been so difficult to do so because right now everything that we know to be true is out the window. 1). The Jacob Blake unrest. Once more a black man is shot in the back. Coming on top of the George Floyd murder and about a half dozen other similar murders. It was certainly going to escalate. “Why can’t they just comply?” One man asked me. “The penalty for not complying is death?” I asked. 2). The aftermath. Of course there we’re going to be protests. Unfortunately those protests bring rioters and looters. That’s wrong too.  The fact that the rioting and looting brought a group of people who felt emboldened to fight all of it is the twist that we didn’t need, but the division is being stoked by a complete lack of national leadership.  We can’t survive without laws. 3). Which brings me to the election. Back in the George B

When I went to bed on Wednesday night, I was pretty well convinced that the story I read about the 17-year-old who’d traveled to Kenosha and gunned down a few people was going to be talked about plenty. I just couldn’t imagine that there would be people who would be on his side! Are you kidding me??? The kid is 17-years old. He allegedly went to Kenosha (driven by his mother!) with a long gun.  He was not legally allowed to have such a weapon. He wasn’t allowed to take it across state lines. He certainly wasn’t allowed to shoot people and kill them in the streets. And he was completely ignored by law enforcement! In fact, they told him how appreciated he was and they tossed him water! After the killings, he got back in his mother’s car and went home! He even tried to surrender (if all the reports are true). But he wasn’t a bad guy in the eyes of law enforcement. He was one of them! So, back to me. I was convinced that the kid and his actions would be thoroughly condemned.  They weren’t

I was waiting in line at the Dollar General. (The doggies needed boneys). The man in front of me was about my size, but much younger than me. He was a black man with a huge red handkerchief for a mask. “You on a work break?” He asked me. “Kinda’,” I said. “Traveling between jobs.” I was wearing a high-visibility vest. “You’re some kind of inspector?” He asked. “Yeah. Safety,” I said. And normally I hate small talk, but he had a good way about him. “Ahh, so you don’t work!” He said. “In fact, when you show up they say, ‘Here comes the asshole.’” “Something like that,” I said, and we both laughed. “You don’t seem like one of those people who are full of themselves,” he said. “Some people get some authority and they go a little crazy.” It was his turn in line. “Two dollars and three cents,” the cashier said. My new buddy handed over three singles. “Wait,” I said, handing him a nickel. “That’s great!” He said. “Now I have a dollar left. I need it. One lonely dollar.” I stepped up in line.

“Be forewarned, the video is graphic and may be upsetting.” That’s how the news anchors frame the video of another black man being shot in the back. There are protests in another city in another state as the fires continue to burn. I saw the video early on. Had no idea that the man’s kids were in the car. My first thought was: “Why?” Why would it escalate so quickly? Can’t the police apprehend or subdue a black man without shooting him? I didn’t want to look too much into it. I didn’t want to see where Joe Social Media argued that the shooting was out of context. As Jonathan Blake’s relative said, “How can someone be convicted of a crime of a video without context?” Yet in a shooting such as this we need more evidence? I certainly would never want to work as a cop. No way in hell. Yet, I’m thinking that the job can’t be performed as well as necessary if there’s an inherent lack of respect for the man you are questioning, or confronting. “We just want the same justice system that other

What kills me about the political fighting that is endless in this country is that nothing ever seems to stick. There are stories and denials. The stories break and the talking heads go out and act all indignant. “That’s not true! It’s fake news!! It’s a left-wing conspiracy.” Then the charges are brought, the convictions are granted and no one ever admits that they were lying all the time. Drives me nuts! Kellyanne Conway and her husband George have both called it quits and it all came to pass because their daughter threatened to divorce herself from the family. It would be a sad story if it didn’t seem like we’re all getting played. I have zero sympathy for Kellyanne because she lied with such ease and verbally destroyed anyone who tried to explain that what she was spouting was garbage. I haven’t heard her voice in about a year because it was a simple waste of time to hear her shift and shape the truth. She broke rules, lied, and lied some more. As for George, he bashed Trump at eve

By every account, from every human, everywhere, 2020 has... ...sucked. But man, the sun has been fantastic! We have played golf each weekend. Zero rainouts. My skin is as dark as it’s ever been, and not only am I getting sun during the round, I am also out and about every day... ...and the freaking sun is shining bright. I’m also perplexed by the fact that I am currently hitting the golf ball further than I ever have... ...even when I was young and strong. “You aren’t getting stronger,” my cart mate said. “Your swing is just better.” The funky thing about the sport is that there is plenty of time to analyze it. When the swing is broken we all try a whole lot of talking about it. “Is my backswing fast?” “Should I be further back in my stance?” Now?  I’m not thinking about any of it. Just feeling the sun and hitting the ball. “You couldn’t even walk this week,” Kathy said when I told her that I played well. It’s true. But for four hours each week it seems that the sun is beating down on

Thom Brenneman is a really good sports announcer. I’ve always preferred when he was calling a game rather than Joe Buck. Seems I won’t be hearing him anymore. Thom was heard using a gay-bashing word on a hot microphone. Before the game was even over he was well aware that he was done. He actually yanked himself from the broadcast and talked about how he figured he was cooked. It was inexcusable. Yet, I once had a hot microphone moment of my own. Back in college, I reported the news on the college radio station. I even spun records. It was great fun. But on the day hockey goalie Pelle Lindbergh died I was getting the news stories in order as the DJ was hosting his show. He yelled out to me: “Hey, Fuzzy, what did you think about Lindbergh?” “It f****ng sucks!” I yelled. He didn’t answer me. Instead, he was talking into the microphone... ...apologizing. He slapped a record on, and then muted his microphone. “You dumb bastard!” He said. “That went out?” The ringing telephone answered my qu

You can tell Joe Biden has felt horrible grief. It’s hard to fake sincerity and you can see the pain in his eyes and hear it in his voice when he speaks of his son and his first wife. And of course, no one has cornered the market on grief. Life is long (if you’re lucky) but it brings definite heartache to all of you actually do it right. Thing about grief is that it comes out of nowhere sometimes and it can hammer you. Friday morning was an odd one. I had written the blog about my Dad and it was fun to remember the funny stories. Then my sister, Carrie commented on it, and I was driving to Syracuse. I re-read what I wrote and here came the Big G. Just like that. I could almost hear Dad’s voice, and see his smile as he laughed. Tears filled my eyes and I swallowed hard to keep it together. I turned up the radio to try and block out some of the sadness... ...and there was a freaking Doobie Brothers song on! I haven’t heard a Doobies Brothers song in a long time. It was followed by Supert

 Every morning we would make the drive from  Mill Valley to downtown San Francisco. Some days traffic was rough but most of the time it was smooth sailing over the Golden Gate. Just me and Dad for awhile and then John joined us. We also had a hitchhiker for awhile. Her name was Sandy and she was actually a secretary in my Dad’s office. She was a middle-aged woman and she was miserable. She wouldn’t talk, was usually late coming down and stifled all conversation but Dad felt badly for her and his giving her a ride was a truly charitable thing. One morning we pulled up to the spot where she was usually waiting...and she wasn’t there. That wasn’t unusual, but what was strange was that there was just a pair of old shoes in the spot where she usually stood. We pulled over and waited and all at once Dad burst out laughing. “What?” I asked. “She must’ve bought a pair of odor eaters.” Story Two: It was just Dad and me in the car and we were listening to the news reports of the day. “The man wa

 I read an article about people being a little down about life as we are stuck in this viral whirlwind. I know the feeling. Haven’t felt completely right since February, and while this life seems to be imitating real life, there’s something off. Of course there’s been four years of absolute chaos, and it seems like not many hours go by before there’s breaking news somewhere. “Don’t buy Goodyear Tires!” Was yesterday afternoon’s decree from King Sh*t. So tiresome. We aren’t built for that. Day after day after day after day. Raw division. Yet, it seems to be more than that.  The work is there. It’s still the same. One job after another. Challenges here and there but it seems to be in black and white when it was always in full color. “Another beautiful day,” I said as way of greeting to a guy who’s been around the sites for the last 30 years. “The summer of 2020 has been outstanding,” he said. “Too bad everything else sucks.” I laughed. “Good thing it’ll all be over with by November 4th.”

This election needs to be canceled. The senate republicans report is done on Russia and they found that there was definite collusion between the Trump campaign and freaking Roger Stone and Wikileaks and Russia. What a shocker! Shouldn’t that be enough to remove the guy from all the ballots? How about trying to steal all the mailboxes? Shouldn’t that cause some concern? But no, we are going to have to live through this, right? And it’s going to be insufferable. The media wants it to be a contest, like a heavyweight fight. They even use the same damn graphics. It started with the Democratic Convention. I forgot about it. Got some texts when the Bruce song played. He’s always on the right side of things.  I listened to some clips of Michele Obama’s speech. She attacked Trump personally and I’m glad she did. This isn’t the time to pull punches. Trump’s rebuttal? He figured out that the speech was taped because the death count from Covid was lower than what it is currently. Last night was a

To be honest, I never really cared to watch Yankees-Red Sox games when Pedro and Manny and Ortiz were aggravating me. I used to get too worked up. No chance of that happening now as there’s a real stench coming off this Red Sox team. Makes me laugh. Thing is, and this is crazy to think about, I haven’t seen a Yankees team stink in a long, long time. People talk about how they haven’t won a title since ‘09 but I think the Red Sux have finished last at least three times since then... ...and who knows how many the Yankees would’ve won had the Astros not cheated. (Also, in ‘18 the Sux were also managed by the guy who is currently suspended for cheating).  But this is fun! I’m not hearing from anyone from Boston lately, and the thing about it, is when teams from Boston win... ...their fans never shut up. Same can be said of Yankees fans as well, but that’s another story. The Yankees in the basement? I don’t ever think I’ll see that happen. My boys have no idea what it feels like to not have

My internal alarm went off at a little after 6:00 and I knew I have plenty of time before getting up to play golf. My 4-hours of peace coming. I didn’t sleep all that well because Sam went out last night and I always need to know that everyone is safe.  I texted him late but he didn’t text back. “Sam’s phone is dead, but he’s all right,” my beautiful wife sent along. Reason two why I slept lousy? Animals! With Sam out I had three scattered around me. Melky is my usual guest, but Paris and Miller were there too. So, I rested before rising. Went to Twitter and read all the nonsense about the post office being under attack. I never thought I’d live in a time when American institutions were straight up attacked as those who abhor such a thing would line up behind the man destroying it all. They’re waving the American flag as everything it stands for is obliterated. There’s not a lot I can do about the ENTIRE world. When I was young I thought I could write a book that would change everyone.

We flew into Boston and rented a car at Logan. We drove straight downtown and found a nice hotel. A few hours later we headed to Fenway Park. A place that I said I would never visit. A friend of mine would rave about the place and time after time I would say: “Never! I will never step foot in that park.” Then I posted the photo where I pretended to urinate at the exterior of the park and I sent it to my buddy. We laughed a lot. Then an email from him: “You ARE going to Fenway!!!!” The email contained 2 tickets to see Springsteen at Fenway. He was right. I was going! We walked all around the park and Kathy said, “Wouldn’t it be cool if Bruce came out and said hello to us before going in.” I laughed. That wouldn’t go so well. We settled into our seats along the 3rd base line - The E-Street Band was set up with the green monster as their background.  The video board flashed footage... ...of Bruce at the main gate... ...shaking hands with the fans. “Damn! If we’d stayed there ten more minu

We were living in California at the time and I was complaining about the fact that it took three days to get a letter from back home. Of course, at the time, we had no way of knowing that we would eventually have communications in an instant, but I distinctly remember my Dad saying that the post office was truly a remarkable service. “You drop a letter in a box here with a single stamp on it and 3 days later someone is reading it all the way across the country.” It’s something we’ve all taken for granted for years, and over the course of the last week I’ve felt a little sick when I’ve given much thought to the fact that they’re trying their best to shut it all down in an effort to render votes not countable. The constitution is being destroyed in real time and so far the response appears to be: Here’s a strongly worded tweet in protest. It’s really quite disgusting. Following the election in 2016 we heard grumbling about voter fraud and immediately a committee was set up to look into i

A few weeks back I posted something about being excited to watch a Yankees game. A guy I know through work, who I considered to be a friend, made the following remark: “You can have them! They all knelt for the anthem. I’m not watching baseball ever again.” I know better than to engage but I had to clear it up for him. “They didn’t kneel during the anthem. They set aside 5 minutes before the anthem was played and guys were free to kneel,” I wrote. He didn’t answer and I never gave it another thought. Until yesterday. The guy pulled up in his truck. Trump sticker in the window. “Hey, what’s going on?” I asked. He shook his head. “Don’t even talk to me.” “What’s up?” I asked, thinking it had something to do with the job. “You’re a communist,” he said. “You defend the black lives matter crowd. They’re disgusting.” I still wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but then I thought about the baseball post. “Kneeling?” I asked. “Yeah. Kneeling. I’m an American. I thought you were too. Those p

There was a moment on Wednesday morning when I daydreamed a little. You see, I was watching a recap on the major league game that was being played downtown about 12 miles from where I’m writing this. 1915 was the last time a professional baseball game was played in Buffalo. “Did you go?” One of my wiseass kids asked. My daydream consisted of a Buffalo team in the American League East. “We’d split season tickets,” I told Sam, “But I’d go to a lot of them.” I thought about living in Baltimore in 1991. It was the Orioles last year at Memorial Stadium and I was just 26 years old, single, and a big fan of beer. Me and my buddy Fluffy would buy the worst seats in the house and go to the games. The Orioles were awful that year but Cal Ripken was great. We drank beer, sat in the sun and just watched baseball. “We’d be a better baseball town than Tampa Bay or Miami,” Sam mentioned. No doubt about that. “Won’t happen though,” I said. “Why not? The stadium is big enough,” Sam argued. But it’s jus

Listened to a pastor talk about how God wants people in church, without masks, unafraid of getting sick, singing His praises. “God will protect me,” a woman from that church said. Really? So the 165,000 or so who’ve died because of Covid-19 had it coming to them because God didn’t like them? Their faith wasn’t strong enough??? And faith is a wonderful thing.  It truly is.  I always enjoyed the community of mass until the sins of the Catholic Church drove me away from organized religion. But in all the years of going to church or praying... ...I was never once arrogant enough to think that I knew what God wants. “God doesn’t want us to stay home and hide from this virus and He doesn’t want us to hide our faces behind masks. He wants us to hold hands and sing his praises at the very tops of our voices!” That’s what the lady went on to say. And maybe I’m wrong and she’s absolutely right, but as far as science goes it would stand to reason that if her church scenario plays out... ...the vi

College football appears to be heading towards canceling the season. Probably a sound decision. Despite the fact that the games makes billions for television networks and the NCAA the kids don’t get a nickel and they assume all the risk. Why would they do it? The majority of the players won’t be making millions in an NFL career. I have additional questions. 1). How did the pandemic of 1918 end the Second World War because all the soldiers were sick? That war ended in 1945 (someone tell Donny T). 2). The kids come back to school, right? Jimmy Doe arrives sick.  What happens? He’s sent home and for a test, right? What happens to the class that he hung out with for the week? Do they quarantine? Does the teacher? Lord knows that kids always show up not feeling right. The flu and the common cold will run rampant through every school in America. It happens every year. Will they quarantine everyone until Jimmy Doe’s test comes back negative? (You have to treat each sick kid as potentially exp

 The round of golf on Sunday morning was going pretty well. My new found muscle has provided me with longer drives and I was hitting the ball out of the fairway good enough. I was doing some three-putting early so I needed a bit of a spark. Too many bogies! I have a club in my bag that my cousin, Paul Bantle gave me on the first day I ever stepped on the course. It’s a club that I use around the green to get me close and I’ve affectionately named him Chippy. Chippy is a member of the family, and no matter how many times I’ve left him by the green I’ve got him back. He saves me 2 or 3 strokes a round. The 9th hole is a uphill par four that is a real bear. I’ve never made par on it. Still haven’t, but I used Chippy from the rough and put the ball within an inch. Then I went to help Pops find his ball in the rough. I didn’t find the ball and when I went to place Chippy back in the bag I noticed the problem. The head had fallen off! Went back into the rough and around the green. Chippy was

I know there’s a certain portion of the population that thinks all of this is somehow warranted, but I’ve felt sick to my stomach over the last few days. The USPS is being ripped apart because Trump doesn’t want votes to be counted. Kanye West is working with the Trump campaign to try and steal black votes. I say steal because they’re using fake signatures. Russia will mess with the election and feels emboldened to do so because they have been all but given permission. Congress was bypassed in the process of helping Americans with the pandemic relief. By executive order social security was defunded and unemployment was reduced (for millions of suffering people)... ...and the con of it is that he expects to be treated as a savior. And the truly sickening part of it is that Trump announced it all in a sickening rant at a golf club where his members (sans masks) pay $350,000 a year to join. That’s the group of people who cheered “fake news” berating of the press, and loved the idea of low

 467 billionaires have made an extra $730 billion dollars since the start of the pandemic. Know what the average American was doing during that time? Blaming the Americans who were receiving $600 in extra unemployment benefits to try and keep a roof over their heads. I don’t get it. How in the world has the brainwash worked so well? How do people vote against their own interests? I’ve heard NRA members going off... ...not on the NRA but on the department that brought the charges against them for stealing the money from their members! They’re backing the people who stole the money! And the real joke is that Trump’s Friday lid was on at 8:49 in the morning, meaning his day was over. The congress left without a deal. Americans, regular, every day, hardworking men and women are going to be kicked out of their homes. Broke, busted, desperate. By the end of December they’re saying the number of Covid-19 deaths will reach 300,000 by the end of 2020. Trump will be teeing off tomorrow morning.

So now we have the election talk. In the middle of all of this ridiculousness we are blessed with a presidential election. In normal times political ads are a pain in the ass. Now, with so much aggravation these speeches are going to be torturous. Biden has a reputation for gaffes. He’s a stutterer who sometimes speaks in riddles. The Trump camp was trying to sell a dementia deal. Hard sell when your candidate is bragging about remembering, ‘Person, Man, Woman, Camera, TV.’ We had the mispronunciation of Yosemite two days ago. Yesterday Thailand was pronounced as ‘Thighland.’ I just wonder. Trump is 73. Biden is older than that. Pelosi is 80. Mitch McConnell has been in Congress since I was in college, I think. If this were a sports team we’d all be wondering if we could somehow get younger. Since I was a kid there has been talk about term limits. I get that we are living longer these days, but seriously, how much work are these people actually doing? At 55, I get a bit winded some wee

Saw that the drug being used in Covid-19 circles goes for $2,200 when it costs a buck a pill to make. They’ve been soaking people for cancer medications, diabetes meds and all other meds for years. A trip to the doctors is 3 minutes of trying to tell the doc what you’re feeling and then suggesting what you’d like to try. Their diagnosis is minimal at best. Most pass you off to the next dude. Then insurance refuses to pay and you spend weeks trying to sort that while health insurance is denied or cost you an arm and a leg. Craziness! We’ve had our share of run ins with docs over the years and many of them have been truly exhausting. Good thing we have a beautiful, new, terrific health plan coming that will cover everyone for everything. It’s supposed to be here in ‘2 weeks’. I don’t know what any of the answers are, but I’ve surely been exasperated by the tone deaf docs, the slow moving insurances and even the people at the pharmacy who get a written script from a doctor and then call y

I defy anyone to watch the interview that was going around social media yesterday. The reporter - Swann - pushed back when Trump tried his double-talk about how wonderful America has handled the virus response. Swann: “There are a thousand Americans a day dying.” Trump: “People are dying. Yes. It is what it is.” That sentence should be enough to get him removed from every ballot in every single state. But there was so much more. Trump: “There were no tests left for me.” Swann: “How could there be tests? There was no virus!” When he was asked about the woman he wished well who happens to be charged with child sex trafficking he said that he does wish her well! He’s attacking the post office because he’s convinced there’s massive voter fraud. There’s no record of it happening ever. Trump: “Some people believe that a lot of tests aren’t necessary.” Swann: “Where you getting that?” Trump: “Read the manuals. Read the books.” Swann: “What books?” There were zero answers. Trump looked unprepa

Update on the cat: Miller has livened up our household. All my family we’ve had dogs. Usually two at a time. In our family history we had, Prince, Ricky I, Ricky II and Ricky III and Frankie. Then there was Sam and Jeter.  Our family has had Max and Shadow and Melky and Paris. All great dogs. And now there’s Miller.  The cat. A few things about cats or at least this one: 1). They think they’re King of the world. Miller struts around this place as if he owns the place. He nudged Melky (a pit bull) out of her own food bowl. Melky just moved. On Sunday morning I opened my eyes and heard it: Yowwwwwwwwwwwww He has a voice like a siren. There was Miller sitting on my bed, looking out the window. 2). Cats don’t like to be told what to do. But here’s the the thing: I have Miller on a schedule. He goes out in the morning with the dogs. He heads out with us for the after dinner trip to the backyard and for the most part he comes in when he’s called. Then he yells at me as he walks on by: Yeowww

Everyone feeling good about where we’re at right now??? Congress couldn’t figure out another relief package for people who have lost their jobs and won’t be able to pay their mortgage or rent. So, housing will collapse, I guess. Certainly doesn’t seem that there’s much urgency to any of it, and some of the comments coming out of some of the leadership is downright tone-deaf. People weren’t getting rich off the unemployment supplement. It was making them whole. They were spending some money... ...enough to keep a portion of the economy afloat. Obviously, that’s not going to happen now. I’m not an economist and I’ve always been skeptical by the markets, but can someone explain to me how the stock market soars and billionaires make billions more, as the majority of Americans are suffering? Something has to give, obviously. I remember my grandpa telling us about the Great Depression. He was painting outdoor toilets for cash. I’m a lousy painter. “So what happens when everyone gets kicked o

I’ve earned my living by telling guys and gals what they can and can’t do.  In the construction industry a lot of people fall to their deaths. “You know what they all have in common?” I asked during the training classes.  “They didn’t think THEY would fall.” Running into a lot of that with Covid-19. Yet, millions are getting it. “Eighty percent of the cases are mild,” one guy, who is diabetic and 50 said. “I’ll take my chances.” “Dude. If you’re wrong, you’re dead. No coming back from dead.” “That you know of,” he said, and we laughed. I’ve always been a cautious guy. I’ve been called some derogatory words for my not taking unnecessary chances. When we were teens we’d ride snowmobiles. I always went slow and was always on the lookout for ponds. “Where were you?” They’d ask when I’d show up ten minutes late. A whole bunch of people are willing to take chances because it won’t happen to them. Yet, it’s all a justification for the fact that they don’t want to be inconvenienced. They’ll ar

Twitter posed a question about the greatest baseball game I’d ever seen live and despite having attended roughly 100 games in my life, I immediately thought about Game 5 of the ‘98 ALCS.  The Yankees were dominating that year, winning 114 games but they were tied with the Tribe and Game 5 was in Cleveland. “They need me,” I said. Kathy found the tickets and $200 later we were sitting in the last row of the place. El Duque was masterful and the Yankees didn’t lose another game that year. As for football...easily the Bills over the Raiders 51-3 to secure their first ever super bowl berth. It started snowing late in the game and the place was rocking! I went to a lot of Sabres games as a young man, but my favorite memory there was of seeing Gretzky just toy with them one night. The Great One scored 3 and assisted on a couple more. He deserved his nickname. For concerts, Bruce at Fenway comes to mind but every show I watched with them are often interchangeable - they bring it every night.