Thoughts of a Common Man

Starting at 11:17 in the morning on January 6th the phone logs went missing. The insurrection began at 1:30. 7 Hours and 37 Minutes of call logs are missing. It has been widely reported that the president of the United States was on a burner phone. Allegedly in contact with those storming the Capitol and I have a few thoughts: Watergate was a huge moment in the history of politics in this country. Nixon resigned because 18 minutes of tape was missing. What happened to the check and balances? Also, there is a lot of angst regarding Hunter Biden and his laptop.  I have a few questions about that. Ivanka made a half a billion dollars during the last presidency. Does that bother anyone if nepotism is such a problem? Clinton’s emails a problem? How about 15 boxes of materials at Mar-a-Lardo? Are you concerned with the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Then shouldn’t Russian television broadcasting that they want their partner back concern you? Or the live broadcast where the former President...

There were a lot of free agents out there. Many of them got huge deals before the lockout. There were 99 lost days during the off-season and it was impossible to even dream of the Yankees 28th World Series title because the team was incomplete because there were still a lot of free agents out there. When the lockout ended, Yankees fans dreamed of Correa or Story or Olsen or Freeman. I was of the opinion that they would sign at least two. And then, a really weird trade was announced.  Donaldson? Really? They’ve been playing spring ball for a few weeks now and it finally makes sense. The defense is better. The lineup is long and there’s a lot of power. Now, stay healthy and the dream is back on. This team certainly can win it all. That may be optimistic, but Toronto didn’t actually get better. Boston added Story but their pitching looks weak.  Tampa? Who the hell knows! It all begins on April 7th. Yankees-Red Sox. L.F.G.! As the kids say. It would be a whole lot better to dream ...

I don’t watch the Oscar’s. I think that awards shows are pretentious and self-serving. The only thing I enjoy about the show is the comedian ripping on everyone sitting there. Ricky Gervais was particularly brutal in his assessment of Hollywood elites… …so he wasn’t asked back. Chris Rock got the job, and he’s one of my favorites. Rock is always great in interviews and his stand-up is edgy and great. We all know what sort of a comedian he has been for about 30 years. He told a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith. Evidently he hit a nerve because she has a medical condition. She got upset evidently and then, so did her husband. I watched the uncut version from a Japanese feed and it’s pretty disturbing in real time. Will Smith got up, walked onto the stage and slapped Rock. He returned to his seat and screamed “Keep my wife’s name outta your f****ng mouth” twice. Disturbing. Now, believe it or not, I’ve been in Rock’s spot on stage. I’ve done a number of speeches where I was hired to be funny...

The student in the front row of one of my classes looked awfully young. “When were you born?” I asked. “November of 2001,” he said. “You missed 9/11!” I said. “I read about it,” he answered. And I was telling a story about the first fatal accident that I had to investigate. It was in North Carolina in 1997. I mentioned that I flew to Charlotte and then drove to the site without knowing what happened. “Why didn’t you call the foreman?” The kid asked. “Because my phone was home hanging on my wall,” I said. “We used to leave the house and only talk to people at the end of the day, or when we got home.” On Saturday someone sent me a feature story from the Buffalo News on my book ‘Desperation’ and I was instantly sad. Being featured in the newspaper was so much fun. Those stories aren’t being told like that anymore because everyone is a reporter now. And I often think about social media and whether or not it’s a good or bad thing. I love having information available instantly. When I was a ...

We had a tee time scheduled for this morning. I was so excited. “Golfing on Sunday,” I announced. 30 seconds later, Kathy had an announcement of her own. “The high temperature is 31,” she said. I checked it out. Halfway through the week the course called my agent who sets up our tee times, and canceled. On Saturday night, my phone beeped. WINTER WEATHER ALERT! I read one line of that freaking story: “8 to 14 inches in locations south of the city.” AHHH  COME  ON!!! I want to put the heavy coat away! We have a lot of work around Camp Clifford! Enough is enough. The Yankees open up the season next week. I’m riding around with a golf ball that I want to hit straight down the middle on hole one. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but we booked another time for April 3rd. Meanwhile, the shovels are still out. BAH!  

My bracket sucked. I was essentially dead when Auburn went belly up and I also fell for the Gonzaga gag and choke again. So, we settled in last night to watch St. Peter’s against Perdue. Every year a team makes a run and somehow makes it to the sweet sixteen. Then it ends and the big boys battle it out. I was soundly behind the Peacocks from Jersey City after seeing a photo of their gym next to the Kentucky gym. And the excitement is contagious for sure. The little guy versus the big guy. The only thing in my wonderful sports career that rivals it was when me and some buddies formed a softball team for a one pitch tournament in our little hometown. It was a single elimination tourney and we had a dozen hungover guys. I wrote out lineup on the back of a paper bag, and we won games 1 and 2 early in the morning. Then we went and got some beer and our excitement and confidence grew. There were other teams who came from a long ways away. They had uniforms and fancy equipment.  We just k...

Are you following the Supreme Court mess? I’m not talking about the confirmation process, although that’s been downright embarrassing. Ted Cruz should be banned from ever speaking. In public or private. But, I digress. I’m talking about the Clarence Thomas debacle. He’s currently either in the hospital or not in the hospital or deathly ill or perfectly fine. No one seems to know. Yet, it appears that part of the reason that he’s hiding out is because of texts that his wife exchanged with the chief of staff following the election. Not only was she all for the complete overthrow of the government… …it appears that she believed that Biden wasn’t really Biden but was actually a stand in as the real Joe Biden was preparing himself to be tried and hung for treason. 🦇 shit crazy stuff! Her husband is on the Supreme Court! What makes it even more insane is that as a justice he cast a dissenting vote regarding having text messages exposed in regard to the insurrection. Politics aside, I’m just...

You could probably spend about 200 hours watching You Tube video clips of people losing their shit in fast food restaurants, on airplanes, at the DMV, and every other possible place. People reason that it’s all because there are now cameras everywhere. That’s fair, of course, but man it seems like people have grown louder, nastier and less patient. The senate hearings this week were a good example of the fact that we are becoming less kind. In all areas. The politicians have decided that there’s no decorum at all. Anything is fair. They aren’t even trying to pretend to listen or care. And that system appears to be permanently broken. Straight up nastiness. Yet, my favorite clip of the week came courtesy of Ted Cruz who got into a fight with an airline worker after he was too late in checking in for a flight. He dropped the “Do you know who I am?” line. That never works out for anyone. Celebrities have been pulled over for drunk driving, or arrested for domestic problems and when they b...

Paris is going to be a teenager soon, and she’s still a trooper… …able to jump into the car for a ride… …still quick enough to get away from Ollie in the backyard… …but she struggles with mental difficulties from time to time. She will stare off into space, and she knocks stuff over, which is weird. She also does a clicking sound with her teeth and there are nights when she doesn’t sleep. She wants to see me. Which is troublesome because I like to sleep between the midnight and 5 a.m. hours. I can’t be mad… …but it led to kind of a blah mental day on Tuesday. I still made all my appointments and visited with a whole bunch of people but I didn’t have the usual bounce in my step. Those sort of days happen from time to time, right? The other thing that has me feeling a little blah is that it’s still in the 30’s temperature wise! My mind is ready for golf! It’s not happening in the next ten days or so. What to do? I started cleaning things out! Cupboards that haven’t been opened awhile in ...

Was having a conversation with another semi-old guy about sports. I’m of the opinion that the professional sports of my youth were much better - product wise than what we are today. I used to love the NHL - can’t watch that anymore. Can’t even name more than 25 players. The NBA? I keep up with it, but haven’t watched a full game in decades. I only follow it to talk shop with the boys. MLB? Still my favorite sport, but the shift and home runs or strikeouts have slowed the game way down. The NFL seems scripted to me. But, still we all watch… …and what has ruined all of it… …is ever hearing about the salaries of the players. The quarterbacks make $40 million a year. And they are all changing teams! When I was a kid the Bills had Joe Ferguson. He was there forever. This Bills team has a good, young guy who should be here for awhile, but man! Did you see the DeShaun Watson debacle? He hasn’t played at all since 2020 because 22 massage therapists said that he acted inappropriately. He also d...

Isn’t it amazing how movies and television series are now just streamed to us? One day it’s not there. The next day it is. We took a couple of breaks from the non-stop basketball games to watch 2 movies. ‘Deep Water’ with Ben Affleck, which was a psychological thriller - was good. ‘Adam Project’ with Ryan Reynolds and Mark Ruffalo. That was about time travel…which is a grand theory. When I was a kid and ‘Back to the Future’ was all the rage the thought of time travel was in the moving ahead. Wouldn’t it be cool to know what would happen? The name of our spouse? How many children we’d be blessed with? But now? Time travel would be all about going backwards to once again see the people we’ve loved and lost or revisit the wonderful moments. What it would be like to sit around that dinner table in the big house on the hill! It would be incredible. Or to spend a day back in my childhood? Share some wisdom with 15 year old me? That would be great. And of course, if time travel is ever going ...

The game of basketball has changed. Due to the fact that Seth Curry of the Warriors can make 35’ shots (much like me back in the day) a whole lot of kids are firing them up. Curry is a party of one. The rest of the guys trying those shots are what we would refer to as ‘chuckers’. No chance! Then there are the missed free throws! My God! Kentucky was sent packing because they went 1 for 6 from the line in overtime. Practice, boys! But what a weekend for hoops.  It was funny but Kathy and Sam were together watching the games on Friday afternoon when I got home from work. I joined them after writing reports and was able to catch all of the Chattanooga game - which was a one point game - and then a lot of the Iowa State game. I was yawning through that, but around 10:30 there were new games starting. “Wondering if I can make another game,” I said. Kathy & Sam we’re still going strong! “Why don’t you live a little,” Kathy said. “Stay up past 11:00. It’s Friday!” I didn’t even try. T...

This may come as a great surprise to you, but I’m not what they call a ‘snappy dresser.’ My sister used to call me Oscar Madison saying that I could dress in the most expensive suit ever made and that as soon as I put it on it would look like I slept in it. I wear jeans and a tee-shirt every day. The jeans look dirty and there may or may not be a stain on the shirt. I’ve worn a tie and dress pants maybe 5 times in the last 10 years. The tie is of the snap-on variety. I take it off as soon as I can. Now, I bring this all up because the Ukraine leader, Zelenskyy spoke at length yesterday. It was a terrific speech that showed unbelievable leadership during a time of horrific loss, and heartbreaking tragedy. An American politician sent out a tweet that criticized Zelenskyy saying: “Would it have been that much of a hassle for him to put on a suit and tie?” What a tone-deaf moron, huh? But the guy isn’t speaking in a vacuum here. There have been a lot of recent complaints about how casually...

It’s Saint Patrick’s Day. I won’t be wearing green, but I’ve always enjoyed the day for my Irish friends. Ain’t eating cabbage! It’s NCAA Day! Sam was up late as he got fired up for the games here in Buffalo. He’s going to be a zombie all weekend as he follows the brackets and lives and dies with Villanova. I’ll be following it all with him. And of course, it’s Kathy’s birthday. She will feel a little left out, but we will make sure that we remember her day. In fact, she’s kind of scheduling all around us. Had a massage already from me. Went to Bingo on Tuesday. Will head to Bingo tonight. We have kicked around dinner spots and as a Mom surrounded by males she has adapted and put her own teams into the NCAA brackets. I was up really early today. Too much excitement for the big day! But first… …the mule must work!

As a young man I worked at a grocery store that was about a mile from my home. My buddy, Tom, lived 4 doors up the road, and we did our best to make sure that our schedules were lined up. More often than not, we would walk to and from work, following the railroad tracks that led to a clearing right behind the store. We also had major crushes back then, and when you’re 18 it’s all about the blank page before you. You work hard on your dreams, and everything is pretty dramatic. On March 15, 1982, we grabbed some beer and we walked. We didn’t have to work that afternoon. Just two buddies, drinking and talking and dreaming and worrying about the girls we were so desperately in love with. The more we drank, the heavier the conversation got. I recall that it was a beautiful day.  Unseasonably warm.  At one point, I lamented how pointless the day-to-day struggle seemed. “Think about it. We won’t ever remember today. All that we are talking about. All the sunshine. It’ll just be gone....

I actually enjoy the meat in the can SPAM. It’s great with fried eggs. What I hate are spam calls, and spam emails. I think the emails drive me more crazy! I get 10 a day, and I try my best to hit the ‘unsubscribe’ button but that doesn’t seem to work. And there are emails on everything! From a new car warranty to the mortgages that Tom Selleck sells to enlargement ads for certain things that don’t need to be enlarged. The calls are even more irritating as they come in under numbers in our area code. I’m running a business here! Of course, the calls come in at the worst possible times… …halfway up a ladder…. …carrying groceries in… …on another call. “Hi! I’m calling you about your car warranty.” Click. How does that work? And what about the ones who want you to re-mortgage your house 🏠 over the phone with a total stranger from somewhere in India. “Yeah! Let’s do it!” In the end, it’s all a grand design to drive us crazy. Wouldn’t life be better without these simple intrusions? Why do ...

Let’s go back in time, all right. March 17, 1994 The second day of the NCAA Tournament for college hoops. I was 29 years old. Living alone in a small apartment that my brother had nicknamed ‘The Rat’s Nest.’ After work there was the usual happy hour stop at the local watering hole. A number of people from the office had stopped out and it was the receptionist, Kathy’s birthday. Had a few, but more than anything else I wanted to get some beer so I could watch the night games and fill out my brackets. (Still among my favorite of all activities!) I snuck out of the bar and headed home. Ten minutes after I arrived, my doorbell rang. I lived in that apartment for a couple of years - my doorbell rang - at most 4 times. I went to the door and what???? Kathy was standing there. “Come on! Drink with me!! It’s my birthday!!!” I had questions: “How did you know where I lived?” She explained that she saw my address on the paychecks they mailed out. “But there are 12 apartments. How did you ring my...

We prepared for another blast of winter. It was snowing pretty good on Saturday. I bitched about it to Paris as I loaded her into the car for a trip to the grocery store. Paris didn’t care. Then I whined about it as I was checking out, and the cashier said, “It’ll pass. It’s gonna’ be 50 next week.” “It’ll pass.” I’ve always liked that phrase as a way to battle through some of life’s little aggravations. Someone told me last week that 2/3rds of people are mostly negative by nature. I find that to be true. The glass is definitely less than half empty for most of the people you see out there.  Everyone is out to get them, or they are somehow being screwed over. Then there is the “they” in all of the grand conspiracies. “They want us to fight with one another.” “They want to raise prices because they are stealing all that money.” I have often asked, “Who are ‘they’?” ‘They’ are the people who are running their lives. I have often felt that I’m in the one-third of the people who are op...

My God!!! The mention of the price of gas is everywhere and yeah it sucks, but a few facts:  -  It’s global. Gas prices are double in Europe, way high in Norway and Canada.  Meanwhile oil companies are making record profits. - There wasn’t a pipeline shut down  The pipeline everyone wants ‘reopened’ was never operational. - Taxes, taxes, taxes. Gas would be about .50 a gallon cheaper if the taxes weren’t added on. State and federal taxes. - Gas was cheaper in 2020! There was no demand!! People were home. Oil companies lost a lot of money. Gas prices are based on speculators working hard to make as much money as they can. Do they care if you pay $3.30 a gallon or $5.00 a gallon??? Of course they do! They want you and me to pay more! What do they care??? The money not in our pocket is in their pockets. And when does it end??? Who knows! But I do know that it hurts me too. And it hurts you. And we hurt each other… …arguing about it… …as we attempt to find simplistic rea...

Kathy was sick first and she went on a bit of a rant about how miserable she felt. I minimized it. “It’s just a cold.” Well, the shoe has been on the other foot since Monday. The thing is, I had a brutal week scheduled. A trip to North Carolina - I left a Sunday and was to return around 10;30 p.m. on Monday. The airlines apologized profusely when they didn’t get me home until about 1 in the morning. So, Tuesday morning came fast and I was sick! “It’s just a cold.” Well, that came back to haunt me! Thing is, I had 3 straight days of training scheduled. At least 5 hours each day, talking in front of a room filled with people. That’s a battle! I broke it down and did a whole bunch of pep talks with myself. “Just a few hours!” I remember once asking a nun about what the purpose of being sick was all about.  “It’s so you appreciate what it means to feel good.” I appreciated it when Kathy was sick! I didn’t need to get sick to feel it. Ah well… …just a few more things to get through. I’l...

Russia blew up a Ukrainian hospital. The photos and videos of what is happening over there is so heartbreaking. Spoke to my Ukrainian brother, whose family is safe, so far. I listened to him break it all down, the rage and pain in his voice. “Just slaughtering my people. Why?” I have zero answers for him. I’ve never understood those who study war and breakdown all of the battles. Seems highly ridiculous to me. Wiping out thousands of people for a money or land grab or over religious differences? “Putin is a madman,” is now the media’s talking point. Really? We didn’t know that before? “Russia has spent a great deal of time and money to try and pit Americans against Americans.” Well. That worked. And what is so sad about all of it is that it happened right in front of everyone… …like a slow car crash. Remember when they were given a pass for messing with the American election? How about the meeting between Trump and Putin that no one knows about because the interpreters notes came up mi...

I don’t get sick. I say that often, and it’s been a full two years since I had anything resembling a cold. Last time I had one was at the very start of Covid, and I, of course, imagined that’s what I had.  Never got tested and for over whatever it was in a couple of days. Or did I? Over the last two years, I’ve lost my voice quickly whenever I talk for a little while at a training session. Rough days ahead because: I woke up with nasally cold symptoms and I have to do a lot of talking in the next 3 days. Of course, the mind instantly drifts to Covid. We have tests here, and I’ll take one if this isn’t cleared up by the afternoon. I have zero respiratory issues though. But you wonder. Airports and airplanes are still 100% masked. Which might be good anyways because if the seats get any smaller we are going to be sitting on the lap of someone we’ve never met. I was trying to sleep on a short leg and I couldn’t because the guy beside me was reading and every time he turned a page his ...

The highlight of 2021 was heading down to Virginia and spending time with my sister Carrie, my new brother-in-law, David and their beautiful kids… …and I think of this today because Carrie is celebrating her 50th birthday! Which is insane. I remember where I was when Mom and Dad left us with Grandma and Grandpa Schryver so they could head to the hospital for the delivery. I mostly remember it because our neighbor put a walkie-talkie in our ditch and hid behind a tree and talked to us. I still haven’t figured out how that worked, but we were all enthralled. And then, just like that, we all had a baby sister! And Carrie has always been a great one! She’s funny, brilliant and has always been my writing buddy. She’s done an amazing job as a Mom too and I miss seeing her every day as we did growing up on the big house on the hill. So, if you can, reach out to my beautiful, wonderful sister! 50 years old. You’re halfway home! We love you!!

Kathy hasn’t been feeling great (tested negative) but she doesn’t have the strength to fight me over the remote so we were watching an episode of Monk early Sunday morning. The plot of the episode was a setup by a man who was trying to impress a girl. He asked a couple of friends to pretend to rob him. He would then fight off the guys and be a hero in front of the girl. I laughed. “What?” Kathy asked. “Story time?” “Yeah. I had the same plan.” In the Monk episode everything went awry and the guy accidentally shot one of his friends. “How’d it work out for you?” I laughed again. “The plan was for me to pass by a bench with a huge bush behind it. My two idiot roommates, with masks on their faces were going to jump out and demand my wallet. I was going to punch one guy and trip the other one.” “Didn’t work out that way?” “We got to the bush and they didn’t jump out. They weren’t there. So, we kept walking and honestly, I forgot about them. This girl was really pretty.” “Doubt it,” Kathy s...

A younger man came by to look at the gutter and facia work on the front of my house. He set the ladder up and climbed it quickly, and then asked me: “Why don’t you fix it? You’re still climbing ladders every day.” I laughed. In my younger years I would’ve most definitely tried to do some of the work. I had cleaned my gutters in years past. “Not anymore,” I said. “I’d rather pay you. You actually know what you’re doing.” Then, as Saturday rolled on, we caught a few shows and a movie. My phone rang at 7:30 p.m. “Who’s calling now?” Kathy asked. As if it were midnight. “Remember when we’d go out drinking on a Saturday night? Kathy asked. “Stay up until 4 in the morning?” “Not anymore,” I said. There’s so much to it too. I once ate a full pound of pasta. Not anymore! Used to get up on Sunday mornings and head out to rec league basketball. I truly miss that. Not anymore! A knock on the door by friends? Just stopping over? That’s not happening anymore. When we were kids that was how my paren...

We caught the Friday Night Dateline. Here are some truths about all the real-life murders that are broken down in story form for our entertainment: 1). My beautiful wife, by this time, has seen footage of every murder in America. She watches all true crime all the time. ID tv is her go to, and she knows every reason for every murder ever committed. It’s a tad disconcerting, but I’m not worried about her getting caught if she one day decides that I need to go.  She doesn’t pick anything up, or throw anything out! She’d have printed out computer pages on ‘How to kill my husband.’ 2). Andrea Canning is great at her job, and asks all the right questions. She seems disturbed by what she’s reporting on, and she’s an attractive woman. She has about 6 kids too!  Weighs about 95 pounds! 3). One of the dudes on the show on Friday night had a beard that went down to the center of his chest. I had a lot of questions. Doesn’t it itch? Doesn’t it stink? How?  Why? No way could I deal w...

Heard this beautiful song by Kris Kristofferson - it was being sung by Marianne Faithful with Mark Isham on trumpet. Today is the death anniversary of my brother, and I knew why I was feeling so blue. These words were soothing. The Hawk - Kris Kristofferson Gotta’ make your own rules, child. Gotta’ break your own chains. The dream that possesses you May blossom and bless you Or run you insane. The moment is yours now, To lay it on the line. The past just doesn’t matter Tomorrow will never mind. Lay down your sadness, Show me your sign. Let me feel your spirit, Running with mine. I don’t deserve you. I’m just a man. But I swear I love you, Just as hard as I can. Storm on the mountain. Stars in the sky Running for glory Freedom to fly.  Will you remember? Way down the road? Somebody loves you, More than you know. Will you remember? Way down the road? Somebody loves you, More than you know. Beautiful!

There are a lot of people self-medicating.  There’s way too much rage. Life is unutterably weary and tiresome and I often wonder why. When did politicians become people that we rooted for and against? Why is there such a massive divide? I thought of all that because I woke up on Wednesday feeling as if I was in a horrible funk because I’d had a long, drawn-out political discussion with a friend.  It was painful. I don’t often get down, but I was definitely there… …thinking about stupid politicians yelling stupid things from their stupid seats as the president spoke. Tiresome. The war in a faraway land can certainly drive one down and I considered the refugees leaving their homes behind to escape sure death. How does a man give a command to blow up a building containing civilians? Hell is a wonderful concept when considering such a final resting place for such a “leader.” I don’t enjoy being in such a funk, and I usually escape it by making a list of tasks and then performing t...

They knew about the collective bargaining agreement expiring for years. The owners immediately locked the players out and stopped doing business. Then they didn’t negotiate for 43 days. When they finally made it to the table they didn’t negotiate there either. They pretended to do it. And now… …the season is in trouble. It will once again be a shortened season, at best. Which sucks for those of us who use the sport to distract and have the games on as background noise for busy lives. But my opinion now? I want the players to stick with it. Baseball has been embarrassing me for a long while now. Minor leaguers can’t afford their own housing. The shift. Small market teams pocketing the money. Hal Steinbrenner pretending he’s poor because he doesn’t want to exceed the luxury tax - which has served as a salary cap. The shift. Rob Manfred. And finally… …the shift. Sit out the entire year. I’ll watch golf. Makes me sick. Billionaires crying poverty again. Embarrassing.

Putin has spit out, very casually, that he was preparing the nuclear team to get ready. Because, as the world cheers Ukraine on, he needs to gain an advantage. When in heard the N-word (Nuclear) getting tossed about I thought about the fall out shelters in all the schools back when I was a kid. As kids we spent a lot of time talking about what would happen if the Russians dropped an atomic bomb on us. The idea of canned food for all of eternity didn’t do a whole lot for me. In fact, as the nuns told us about it, I wasn’t all that enamored about being one of the survivors. How long would we have to hide in the room? Who would be there? Just me, my brothers and sisters and Mom and Dad? All of us in one room? Eating canned peaches? Would Jeff take off all the labels? There were so many questions. I know that there are a whole lot of people who still have a doomsday place ready in case the shit hits the fan. There are people here in the United States who are well prepared in case they need...