Thoughts of a Common Man

How's that for a kick in the head? They are a not-for-profit organization and have not paid taxes, as a business since 1966. Doesn't that piss you off? And of course, someone will tell me about the Catholic Church...or this one or that one, but don't bury the lead! The NFL is a freaking cash cow. Did you know that the NFL also raises money for breast cancer research? Do you also know that the keep most of that money? For their not for profit. I didn't watch the State of the Union. I absolutely hate that format, but I did hear a little about the economic inequality and know that it was mentioned. I heard they may raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour on Federal projects. That won't make people millionaires, but perhaps a start. I'm just sort of lost on all of it. There is absolute outrage over people who are hoping to survive qualifying for food stamps and/or welfare...just go on your Facebook page...you'll read all about the rage...

The above photo is a re-creation photo of a Fazzolari story from long ago. For obvious reasons my recollection of the evening is not great. You'll see why. I'm pretty sure it was a general party with friends and relatives. I know that my Aunt Rosalie and Uncle Herb were there because my cousins Joe and Paul were there. As our corner men. You see, this was a different day and age. Parents would buy boxing gloves for the kids. Ali and Frazier were great heavyweights and we all wanted to box for a living. There weren't helmets. Just two young boys, swinging wildly...trying to knock each other out. I think I was about 10 and John was 11. Joe and Paul were early teenagers. I may be wrong about the ages, but that was the neighborhood. (Like I've said...it's a foggy memory). In any regard, we were in my parents basement and we wanted it set up like a real boxing ring. We put up some tables on end and made a square. We had a bell to signal the end of th...

I never thought I'd wear long underwear. A couple of Christmas past my beautiful wife bought me a couple of pair. I threw them in a drawer, after thinking of my Grandpa Clifford, and forgot about them. You see, my grandfather worked outside on a railroad. We stopped by one day as he was getting home from work. He was covered in dirt. He used to change in his basement. He had dirty coveralls and his long underwear hanging there. Last week, I found the long underwear and decided to try it as I was gonna' spend a lot of time out there. The temperatures being single digits. "I thought of Grandpa," I told my Mom. "Yeah, poor guy," she said. "He really worked hard." And I felt warmer out there. Yet it becomes tiresome, doesn't it? The driving in the snow. The freezing. Blowing in your hands until you get feeling back. I've been walking very slowly as well. Every year someone falls on the ice. I went down twice last year. I...

That's me. February, 1982. North Collins versus Eden during my Senior Year of High School. The North Collins Eagles were really struggling and Eden was a good team. We had the huge game before us in the small gym in North Collins. I was starting the game. The other starters on that night were Al DeCarlo, Digger Braymiller, Ron Haier, and our superstar Chris Heinold. The Eden team was stacked. Their best player was an annoying bastard by the name of Chris Miller. He hated all of us. Eden was going to kill us that night...we all knew it. One of our leaders, Al DeCarlo had an idea. "You think your Dad would shave our heads?" He asked me at lunch. "For what?" "We go to your house...all five starters...shave our heads...and come out of the locker room with ski caps on our heads...we'll get headbands. Eden won't know what hit them. The crowd will go nuts." Al was a thinker and a dreamer. He always liked to put on a show. So we ...

Playing off Corinne's wonderful descriptive word, "Pathetic" I thought of Justin Bieber. Enough with this kid, right? Last week he made news because he was "drag-racing" in Miami. The story says that he was stoned, drunk, and uncooperative with the police. There are reports that his Dad helped him set up the road block so he could race in his million dollar rental car. OH! WHO GIVES A SHIT!!! Yet, every single media outlet had the story and evidently a couple of news stations cut off real world news to carry the story. The pathetic thing, you ask? It seems to have been a staged event. Bieber is trying to toughen up his image with the kids who like real-life tough rap guys who talk about their bitches and hoes and their glocks. You know what he was busted doing in that 35 mph zone? In that Lamborghini that goes 200 MPH at top speed? Yeah...50 MPH. I've had speeding tickets with higher speeds than that. I thought hard about not contr...

I stopped at 7/11 the other morning for a coffee and when I saw the logo for the store on the coffee cup my mind drifted back in time... ...we were living in Largo, Florida. Six kids in a rented house on a pond where we'd go fishing every day. It was 1974 and we were a handful for sure. Mom and Dad went out one night and our babysitters were a black couple...Bernie and Gloria. Bernie worked with Dad on the construction site and Gloria was his girlfriend. As I looked at the 7/11 logo I thought of that evening. Bernie had a real infectious laugh. I remember that. I also remember thinking that black people were really cool. The reason why I remember Bernie's laugh is because Corinne had yelled at one of us...she had called us 'pathetic.' Bernie loved the word. (It is a good word when used as a description). Bernie kept making Corinne say it over and over. And then there was the trip down the road to the 7/11 store. It's all so vivid in my mind...

RANDOM THOUGHTS..... As I was lying around, pondering the problems of the world, I realized that at my age I don't really give a rat's ass anymore. ..If walking is good for your health, the postman would be immortal. .. A whale swims all day, only eats fish, drinks water, but is still fat. .. A rabbit runs and hops and only lives 15 years, while .. A tortoise doesn't run and does mostly nothing, yet it lives for 150 years. And you tell me to exercise?? I don't think so. Just grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked, the good fortune to remember the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference. Now that I'm older here's what I've discovered: 1. I started out with nothing, and I still have most of it. 2. My wild oats are mostly enjoyed with prunes and all-bran. 3. I finally got my head together, and now my body is falling apart. 4. Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded. 5. Funny, I don't r...