Thoughts of a Common Man

I don’t know how to turn the photo around! Yet, it’s a great photo - my Mom’s and Dad’s wedding photo. They were so young! And man, I can see my siblings and my nieces and nephews in their faces. And it’s amazing to see Grandma and Grandpa and my cousins as children. And today is Easter and of course there are thoughts of family and God and love and, well, you know… …Happiness. I showed Mom the photo and she loved it, of course. “Life goes by so fast,” she said. Indeed. The photo is 64 years old. So much happened because of the union between those two pretty amazing people. The story of a life. And so much comes back to you when you see such a photo. I thought of being a child and running around the neighborhood. I recalled moments when me and Dad were alone on the road for work. The dinners. The talks. The laughs. I’m hoping that my boys can look back… …years and years from now… …and smile as I did today when I saw the photo. Happy Easter! Make those memories.

Man, it’s been wild. The NCAA games have played non-stop here at Camp Clifford and believe it or not, I’m still in the running with a bracket. That may change tonight as I need Illinois to beat UConn. Yet, we were switching from one channel to the other. Kathy and Sam enjoy making 8-leg parlays and betting $3. “If it hits I win $600.” “Problem being you have to get 8 things right and 6 of them have no chance.” That doesn’t stop them from reading their bets to me. “Sabres are winning,” Jake texted me. Meanwhile, I was watching the Yankees game closely on my phone. “Stanton just demolished a ball,” I answered. Camp Clifford was buzzing! “It’s midnight,” Kathy said, as the Duke game wound down. “You’re going to pay for your partying.” And I did… …because Miller the cat had slept through all the excitement and was wondering.. …at six this morning…. …why the hell I wasn’t awake. “Get out!” I yelled. “There were games on!”

“Is this the bottom?” I texted a few friends, after hearing that Greenwood-Trump have formed a partnership to sell the God Bless the USA Bible for $60 a pop. Then I watched the ad - the orange dude in a wig saying: “It’s my favorite book!” And despite  buddy saying that there is no bottom… …I laughed. He owes more than a half a billion dollars for fraud and sexual assault. Three wives. A porn star hush money settlement. Seven bankruptcies. An insurrection. All that on his resume and he thinks: “I know! I can sell the Bible!” And of course, he will sell some… …to people who swear that God sent him to save us… …so he got his signature ready! Signed right there near the publisher’s info!!! Now, I’ve signed a lot of books that I’ve written… …truth be told, I always felt a little uncomfortable. I don’t know if I should sign my name or add a note. Takes a little bit of ego to think someone wants your signature. I’m thinking he’s okay with it. “Grab ‘em by the….” “Love, Donald.” Ridiculou...

If you go back through my blogs I’ve chosen the Yankees to win #28 each and every year since they won #27. Juan Soto! They now have 2 of the best 4 hitters in the game. Stanton looks healthy and strong. Rizzo is down being dizzy. Gleyber is steady. But let’s see how it breaks down: In the National League the division winners will be: Braves Dodgers Cubs The wild card teams will be: Phillies, Diamondbacks and Padres. The NL pennant winner will be: Philadelphia! Ohtani is in some trouble. The Phillies are stacked. The Braves always lose in the playoffs. In the American League the division winners will be: New York Minnesota Seattle The wild cards will be: Houston, Texas and Baltimore. The AL champs? Take a wild guess! Who is writing the blog??? I have Yankees over the hapless Phillies in 6 in the World Series. Just like last time when they put up #27.

So sad. Obviously for the poor people who lost their lives when a ship hit the bridge support. Also, for the fine people of Baltimore as that bridge was a thing of beauty. I lived in Baltimore for about a year back in the early 90’s, and I came very close to staying there. I loved everything about that summer… …I lived in an apartment complex with about 50 other 20-something friends. I went to about 40 Orioles games (last year at Memorial Stadium), and I played so much tennis that I couldn’t lift my arm for about three months. I also visited with my cousins, and spent a lot of time with Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Lenny. Glorious. It was also the summer when I went on two boat rides in that very same body of water where the bridge collapsed. I was on a boat with Gilligan, the Professor and Mary Ann - we anchored under the Francis Scott Key Bridge for the autograph session. (That’s a whole ‘nother story that will be in the next book). I also was in a small boat, not far from the bridge when ...

Sometimes Easter kinda’ sneaks up on me. “When is Easter?” I asked Kathy. “I don’t know.” And that’s kind of sad to me because all of early life was centered around church and prayer and stations of the cross. We took the boys to church through the years, of course, and we remain committed to faith, but the physical act of going into the building for a weekly mass is sporadic at best. Which is amazing because for decades I was an absolute mess if I didn’t make it to church. Where did it all fall apart? It was a movie that did me in - the Catholic Church’s lies and deceit was exposed in the movie with Michael Keaton and the Boston Globe. I was pretty ill when we finished up that movie and it stuck with me… …and not in a good way. I can remember saying: “They will never get another dime from me.” And I truly miss it. I enjoyed the community aspect of attending Mass each week. I knew where all my buddies sat with their family. I would jump up and serve Mass as a teenager. Yet there weren’...

As we lead up to the November election - an election that is preposterous because one of the candidates may be in prison - we hear all about one issue more than another. The border. Back a couple of months ago there was a proposal on the table that would certainly not fix it - but would be an attempt at helping.  A start. The bill was dead on arrival because the House didn’t want to give the candidate who doesn’t belong in prison, a win. The border fight is a confusing, complicated issue. It’s a scar that continues to grow. Like the mass shooting problem. Therefore, I don’t think about it much because it’s an issue that there is zero effort to truly fix it.  It’s a political football, as are guns. Reasonable people know that there are things that can be done…to repair both issues. Unreasonable people want to ignore all possible solutions so that they can use it for fear to sell their agenda. Democrats don’t want open borders. Republicans don’t want to keep them all out - the p...