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...