Thoughts of a Common Man

We watched the movie “Fallout” that follows a survivor after her school is shot up. An uncomfortable watch, to say the least. And it got me thinking about failure. I’m not an old man yet, but I’m certainly not young anymore.  Thing is, I feel a little let down about the state of the country. Way too many failures. 1). We can’t stop mass shootings in this country. The narrative has slowed lately because there hasn’t been one (that’s captured the media’s attention) in a little while, but make no mistake, there will be another. Just abject failure. Kids are practicing what to do and where to hide and the collective we pretends thats good enough. That’s shameful. 2). The pandemic ate us alive. At the onset of it all, there were projections about how many Americans would lose their lives. No one believed that the number would be over a million, but it will. And people are not horrified by it. When people in their 50’s and 60’s are dying the response shouldn’t be: “Did he have underlying...

I enjoyed watching Joe Montana play football. I even saw him play live once at Candlestick and while I was a casual fan of how Joe Cool played, I wasn’t a fan of the 49ers. Tom Brady arrived on the scene 22 years ago. The Bills weren’t great for much of the 2000’s. Brady was playing in all the big games and locked horns with Peyton Manning. I’ve always rooted for Brady. I defended him because of how much he was hated, not sure why, but I thought the hate wasn’t warranted.  He was never soft.  He didn’t bash opponents or teammates.  Seemed like a genuinely good guy to me so I became his biggest defender. Watched him play the position better than anyone ever.  Saw him win and win and win and I truly wanted him to win again. I really got invested in it when the NFL went after him for the air in the ball crap. Even if everything was true it was an equipment violation. Instead he was painted as a cheater. I still can’t believe that his name was dragged though the mud like...

It’s been a weird, quiet, sad week in the B-lo. We will all recall “13 Seconds” as it has joined the lexicon. With “Wide Right” and “No Goal” and “Music City Miracle.” Our group of old guys chatted about it, and we came to the conclusion that the coaches blew it, and that they should be up front about it. They won’t be. As for the boys, they didn’t say much all week. Jake finally mentioned the game last night. He was finally speaking about next year. “Now you know how I felt after wide right,” I said. “Pretty cool that fans are donating to the Children’s Hospital,” Jake said. “It’s over $400,000.” He’s a kid who was treated there. I wrote 2 books about the place. An amazing place. And yeah, the donations, $13 at a time, from Chiefs fans, as a tribute to how well Josh Allen and the Bills competed. “I’d still rather they won, though,” Jake said, and we both laughed, “13 seconds,” I said. “Just insane,” Jake answered. And it will all be back in the foreground on Sunday as the games resume...

This topic comes up every now and again. Someone somewhere gets the idiotic idea that books need to be banned so that children aren’t harmed by the bad words. Do any of the people wanting the books to be banned give any thought to the idea that maybe one of those kids can use the book to block a bullet? The book-ban crowd are usually members of the ‘don’t infringe on my 2nd amendment’ rights crowd. Protecting the kids from swear words is ludicrous. They’re going to hear someone say ‘shit’ or ‘damn somewhere along the way. And not teaching them about slavery? Or racism? Racism is as American as apple pie. I have created plenty. Story after story after story. Some of my characters have been unsavory, to say the least. Billy Barth was a horrible character in my book ‘Desperation’. He was a rapist and a murderer and he was in the story for a purpose. I was writing about a good guy who had to survive the worst that life had to offer. Billy Barth, as the bad guy, didn’t say a single sentence...

It starts with a Miller meow. A few minutes before an alarm that I never get to hear ring. I grab the phone and check the wordle game. It’s a good way to start things, with a mental challenge. Then I check the news of the day, text chat a minute with Pops, and get ready for the day. The problem being that these days that first step out of the house, after leaving the dogs out, and heading to start the car… …is so damn bitter! “Son-of-a-bitch!” Is the usual first utterance of the day. Followed quickly by, “This sucks!” Coffee is next on the agenda. I give Miller a little milk as he does a little religious dance, barely touching it. Dogs come in, Paris goes for a ride, Ollie goes into the pen and they each get a bone. A ritual. And why it is funny is because all four of us are dance partners for the morning waltz. My two dogs and one cat knowing each and every movement. They are the only partners that I have in the routine of things.  My wife and children are not very good at the rou...

Maybe it’s the Catholic School influence, but I often make up my mind about things as either black or white. Not a lot of grey. I’m an old, white guy when it comes to baseball and I spew all the integrity of the game crap that young guys hate. I’ve reluctantly accepted the pimping of home runs, but I still don’t love it. Steroids? I have zero tolerance. McGwire stole the single season home run record from Roger Maris.  I don’t acknowledge it. Bonds broke Aaron’s all-time home run record. I don’t acknowledge his career at all. They cheated. Pete Rose gambled for and against the team he was managing. Zero sympathy. I was happy that the writers were keeping the steroid cheats out of the hall. And then yesterday they let Ortiz waltz through the door! First ballot!!? He failed a steroid test. Cheated. As much as Bonds and A-Rod and Clemens and Sosa and McGwire. What a joke. The nuns who spoke about integrity would be against it. I am too.

During the Bills-Chiefs game, Tyreek Hill took off down the field and Kathy yelled out: “My God! Catch him!” Then she turned to me. “Why can’t they catch him?” She asked. “Because he’s faster than them.” There was a report that he was going 29 mph when he scored a touchdown and actually waved ‘bye-bye’ at a guy who was ahead of him and trying to cut the angle. Here’s the thing: Foot speed can’t be taught. I have a brother who ran like a deer. I run like a tortoise. He was also stronger than me so he could chase me down and then beat the hell out of me. My boys are similar. Jake can fly. I’m faster than Sam, who is famous around our house for lining a single into right, (or so he thought), and getting thrown out at first. But it’s more than that. I mentioned to Kathy that we used to play football in my back yard as kids but it wasn’t any fun because Jeff Renaldo used to take a handoff and then score on every play because no one could, or wanted to try and tackle him. And as fans we can’...