Season of Alt-Sundays

Last year around this time, I said that I was giving up watching football for a year. With yesterday’s Super Bowl now history, which I did not watch, I have.

Sure, I clicked on a few headlines, watched a few clever GIFs, saw a lot of social media updates and was at a party where the Big Ten Championship was on a 65” screen so it could not be ignored - that was the only half I watched. I know Ohio State lost two games. They lost two games, right? I know the Bills were average and that Rex Ryan was fired. It seems the Pegulas need some help in running a franchise and Doug Whaley is not the answer. That’s just an opinion I had before I stopped watching.

I did not miss it, and still do not. I do shout when Lukaku scores four goals in a game or when the Blue Jackets win. I do not miss a completed pass. I do think about athletes with CTE. I do not miss Roger Goodell’s face.

Maybe this will be the Mets year!

There is no real reason for me to start watching football again.

Failure to thrive

Traveled last weekend and came back with a sickness that has been kicking my ass this week. All the humidity on Long Island combined with going into air conditioning and not enough (never enough) rest added up to something nasty taking hold on my system.

Did get some things sorted about with my Aunt's estate. I now have the rest of her pictures and went though my Father's pictures and did some scanning. A lot of memories went by, good and bad ones. Did end up driving on the LIE during afternoon rush hour to see my Sister in LIC. Nice neighborhood, with a cool view a few blocks from her apartment.



Driving was tiring. Put over 1,500 miles on the car, and it performed wonderfully. Still, it was a long trip in a shot amount of time. That, and my son's annual IEP meeting always adds up to additional sadness and inadequacy as a parent. The meeting went well enough, his Mother had concerns about the amount of a therapy he was to receive, which made sense to me. That my son is attending a new school and they're still getting to know him adds more to the uncertainty. He does seem to be doing well there. We were very concerned about how he would take the transition to a new school and pickup and exchange between his Mother and I, but that has not been a problem. Which is a very good thing.

Called an accountant today, we're meeting next week to talk about finances. This is a first.

Week two of my NFL hiatus is in full effect. Weird getting messages during the game and comments directed to me the next morning about what happened the night before. I do not know the specifics, I see the headlines, but do not know how the Bills are sucking.

Now, back to trying to rest or avoid writing.

The Final Whistle

After the baseball strike of 1994 I vowed to not watch a game or read a box score for a season. I cannot tell you anything about the 1995 season, or much about the years following as I realized I did not miss the game much until recent years. It took me until 2014 to attend another live MLB game in Pittsburgh. I am capable of turning my back on things. Sometimes it does not work out, sometimes it does. This time, I’m not so sure, but I’m going to give it a chance to take. Fandom is a hard thing to reduce, let alone get rid of.

After 43 years of following the National Football League, it’s time for me to take a hiatus. A break that may be permanent. This is why.

Tired of the paid acceptance of the military industrial complex.
Tired of the concussions.
Tired of the cover ups of concussions.
Tired of the acceptance of domestic violence of players.
Tired of the fining of players for minor changes in their uniforms while other players commit acts of domestic violence. Oh, and $10,000 fines for not wearing Beats headphones. Please.
Tired of Roger Goodell.
Tired of the time investment I make. I only have so much time left on this planet. Not for this. Not anymore.
Tired of networks promoting television shows I will never watch during games
Tired of commercials aired during games that appeal to the lowest common denominators of society.
Tired of Anheuser Busch and Miller beer ads.
Tired of Papa John and all Peyton Manning commercials.
Tired of ESPN and their commentators who do nothing but shout and provide no real nuance to the events of the game.
Tired of ownership that holds cities and states hostage to their greed to win tax abatements and public financing of their stadiums
Tired of watching men cut their lives short, willingly or not, for my entertainment.

Not going to be a person who asks on social media why people still watch this game or judges those who do, but I’m going to do my damndest to keep away from it. How it goes, November, October will tell. Maybe by then I will be able to find better things to do with my time.

A few short takes and two wakes

I really hope that 2015 does not turn out to be the Year of the Wake. Tomorrow will be the second in two weeks. My neighbor died a couple of weeks ago, she was 86 and in frail health. Yesterday, a former colleague from the Statehouse died. As you get older I guess you meet more people and the chances of them dying increase. No one said this is what happens when you age. I've family and friends struggling with all kinds of diseases right now. Me? I'm just tired from lack of sleep and have a kid that stays in his shell and we can't get him out of it.

Today we found out that Harper Lee will be publishing a new book later this year. This news was received with a lot of positivity, especially from the book industry who can use a new blockbuster. After a bit of time more than a few recent articles about Lee and her health were released and rehashed. Not much of it good. I just hope that this book is being issued with Lee's full consent and knowledge and she was not forced or tricked into it due to her age.

Still trying to figure out what the Hell Pete Carroll was thinking when he sent in that pass play that led to an interception to end a very dramatic Super Bowl on Sunday. I get that he may want to pass, but what the heck was the slant pass over the middle at the one all about. Call a fade to one of your receivers. Throw over the middle to the tight end in the back of the end zone. But it went into traffic and the New England defensive back picked it off. Then again, Carroll will always have at least one more Super Bowl ring than me, so what do I know?

Saturday is another Super Bowl as Everton take on their arch nemesis, Liverpool. The Toffees have been struggling this year and are languishing in the lower parts of the table while Liverpool are doing a bit better. I hope it's better than last Sunday's match between Celtic and the club that may still be known as Rangers (but now have a bit of Newcastle in them). That match was a horror show of poor soccer and a crappy pitch.

The new Belle and Sebastian is great to listen to, as is the Sleater Kinney. We're seeing B&S here in June and are excited about that. The Dylan is, um, his Christmas album of Sinatra covers. I'll leave it there.

A few hours at the Horseshoe

I've lived in Columbus for nearly 25 years now and until today I had never been to an Ohio State Football game. The only times I set foot in Ohio Stadium were for a Crew match before their stadium was built and a game of the Ohio Glory of the doomed World Football League. For a staff appreciation, the President of the University put some tickets up for a staff drawing and I was one of the winners.

My friend Alexis and her husband joined my Wife and I for a lot of firsts. We were wandering around outside the fan fest and saw the cheerleaders being thrown into the air. And there was Brutus Buckeye. Alexis had gumption and wanted a picture with the legendary mascot. I joined her.

I love mascots and can now cross a picture with Brutus off the list. We got into St. John Arena and watched the marching band do their skull session. A pep rally of sorts.

The band members in red are the alumni band, who had a reunion this weekend. Over 700 members took part today, more on that in a bit.

C-Deck of Ohio Stadium has 41 rows. We were in row 41. There were a lot of stairs to climb. Jokes were made. Who needs binoculars when we can summon the Hubble! We did find our seats without the need of a Sherpa.

There was nothing behind us but a concrete wall. I climbed on our seat and looked over the top of the stadium. Here's the view. 

Bought a Coke, the label was very ironic considering the firing of OSU Marching Band Director, Jon Waters, just a few weeks ago. There are a lot of feelings about this still going around. 

It was my wife's first live football game, she's trying, even with little oxygen. Maybe that's why we're both smiling. 

The background is a concrete wall. The backrest to our seats. At halftime the bands came out and did four Script Ohios. It was rather impressive.

Over 100,000 people were in attendance. That's a city within a city. Sometime in here a half of football was played and Ohio State was totally in control. They were ahead 45-0 at the break and won 66-0. Watching a rout is not much fun so we left after the band played, with many other people. I did take one last picture.

If you look inside the stadium and spot the blue flag on the right, the open space to the lower left of the flag - that is exactly were we were sitting. 

News about the sport balls

The announcement that the Buffalo Bills were sold today for about a billion and a half dollars to Terry Pegula caused a massive sigh of relief and a release of hope for the people of Western New York and Bills fans all over. Since the death of Ralph Wilson earlier this year, and  for many years before, there was a lot of speculation that the team would move if the team was not sold to an owner who loved the city of Buffalo. So the drama that Bon Jovi and Donald Trump caused as potential buyers added to the stress levels of supporters. An opening day win and a home game against arch rival Miami this weekend only adds to the joy of a new season. I'm guessing Pegula is introduced to the crowd sometime during the game, which gives the crowd 80,000 plus another reason to go nuts. The move is not official until approval by NFL owners next month.

Pegula already owns the NHL Buffalo Sabres so there is hope that he can become a benevolent monopoly owner of Buffalo sports teams. Do not be surprised if Kim Pegula has a major role in the operations of the franchise.

The NFL itself is in deep shit over the whole Ray Rice domestic violence situation. When TMZ exposes a story that the league denies in the video of Rice striking his fiancee in the elevator you have a massive credibility issue.

Meanwhile the NFL continues to allow Greg Hardy to play after his arrest in May on domestic violence charges, he threw his girlfriend onto a couch covered in rifles and shotguns, but the league has threatened to fine him if he wears face paint under his helmet.

I'm not sure how much more of the time I have left on this planet will be spent watching this bloodsport.

Thank you Mr. Wilson

The death of Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson was hardly a surprise. He was 95 years old. He did a lot for the city of Buffalo, and the city did a lot for him during his sole ownership of the franchise. He made a lot of mistakes, and was responsible for many of the successes. He was highly respected though, always. My favorite memory of Mr. Wilson was before a playoff game against Miami twenty years ago. Wilson and running back Thurman Thomas exchanged high fives and shouted, "Are you ready?" to each other in the end zone before the game, which the Bills won.



Wilson's death was a blow on a massive bruise that the franchise is taking this week. Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly is fighting for his life in a New York City hospital and will undergo surgery for a recurrence of cancer. What Kelly did for the franchise, the city of Buffalo, is quite a profound story. What happened to Kelly after he left the game is important as well. His son was diagnosed and ultimately died of a fatal condition. He started doing massive charity work and fund raising for research about Krabbe's Disease. He was in a horrible plane accident in Alaska. He endured the pain and surgeries of injuries from his career after he retired. Then, last year, the cancer.

Kelly's in a tough fight. Cancer sucks, it effects everyone.

The Boys of Winter

I was a bit young to remember the New York Jets Super Bowl win in early 1969. Joe Namath was always some player who was hurt all the time.

When I was eight, I saw this play live on television.



It was one of those moments you get hooked on a game, reeled into something by a miracle play. It was hard back then to follow a team from afar back in the era when there was only football on Sunday afternoons and Monday nights. There was no ESPN, no football networks. You watched what you could and read anything you could find from the newspapers.

The 1970's Pittsburgh Steelers were a team and franchise that I have great respect for. I do not know if there has been any team in my lifetime that equally embraced its fans while in their embrace. Maybe the Brooklyn Dodgers, perhaps the great teams of the Montreal Canadiens has such a profound effect on the city in which they played. The Green Bay Packers are a entity onto their own.

In his book, Their Life's Work, Gary Pomerantz documents the rise of the Steeler Dynasty though the lives of the players, and reports the impact it had on their lives today.

There's a lot of craziness to the game, and Pomerantz gives us a lengthy glimpse at the men who played hurt and risked their lives for the game they loved - and a couple of the endings are painful to read, even when you know the outcome and history. The book was published just before the death of L.C. Greenwood, leaving Joe Greene the last survivor of the famed Steel Curtain defensive line.

It's also about a family, The Rooneys, who have owned the team from its inception in the 1930's and went though some incredibly bad years on the field until it changed some of its scouting procedures and drafted some incredible players.

In 1974 the team drafted Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth and Mike Webster. All four of these players are in the Hall of Fame. In 1964, the Cowboys had a draft in which three players made the hall. No other teams have come close.

Pomerantz has interviews with the great players, such as Pittsburgh icon Franco Harris the backups, like Steve Furness and the character of Frenchy Fuqua - who still will not exactly say what really happened during the Immaculate Reception. He wanted to tell Dan Rooney after it happened, but he told Fuqua to keep it to himself.



There were a couple of things I wanted Pomerantz to get into more: Gerela's Gorillas and more about Broadcaster Myron Cope and The Terrible Towel. Overall, this is a book that will does for football non-fiction what Roger Kahn's masterpiece The Boys of Summer did for the Brooklyn Dodgers. It's a must read for anyone with a casual interest in the history of the game during a time when the players were not isolated from their fan base. I think the ball hit Tatum first.

Where Everybody Knows Your Game

Going in exact chronological order with this project is not going to happen. I may come close, but I'm going to jump around a little.

It was sometime in late August, early September of 1992 during a rain delay at a Columbus Clippers game when my wife approached a man wearing a Buffalo Bills hat. They got to talking about how it was hard to watch the games in town.

Back then, satellites were rare, Direct TV was not around. What we had to do to see regular season Bills games during the season was find a Buffalo friendly sports bar, not the easiest thing to do in Bengals/Browns country, and hope they'd put it on the screen for you.

We got lucky with a Damon's out in Pickerington, but that was a bit of a haul.

The guy she was talking to mentioned Michael Dominic's, a restaurant in Worthington that was owned by a guy from Buffalo and they showed the games on Sunday. She called and confirmed that while the place was closed on Sundays, it was open for Bills fans to watch the games on his satellite.

Our first Sunday there, we found home.

This was right in the middle of the four season Super Bowl loss streak. The team was great during the regular season. Crowds began forming as word of mouth grew. Eventually it seemed the place was busier on Sundays than it was during the week. Michael would serve chicken wings, Sahlen's hot dogs, beef on weck and other Buffalo food that was not on his steakhouse menu.

The Central Ohio Bills Backers were formed and organized bus trips to Indianapolis and to the Thanksgiving game in Detroit. Great times, despite the loss in Detroit.

The greatest day there remains January 3rd, 1993. A playoff game against the Houston Oilers. The Bills were down 28-3 at the half and 35-3 early in the third quarter. By this time I wanted out, but for some reason my wife wanted to stay.

We all cheered mockingly when the Bills made it 35-10, and said it was not going to be a rout when it became 35-17.

But when Frank Reich threw a touchdown pass to Andre Reed, it became 35-24, and it was game on.

The bar was chanting "D-D-D" People were screaming in all the rooms, running back and forth giving out high fives to everyone. When it became 35-31 people were getting body slammed. Bear hugs. Chest bumps and room spins. The craziest and most intense viewing of a sport on television I have ever been a part of.

The Bills went ahead, briefly and chaos ensued. Houston got a late field goal to sent the game into overtime, but we knew. We knew the Bills were going to win.

On the first drive of overtime Warren Moon threw a pass that Nate Odomes intercepted and a couple of plays later Steve Christie kicked an easy field goal.

I was bruised the next morning. I still find the highlights of the game on Youtube and watch them.

We still had two, sad, Super Bowl losses to sit through. There were still crowds. One of the local stations did a live broadcast of its pre-game show from the bar. The Dispatch came and took pictures. I was on the cover of the metro section, probably a bit drunk with a few other fans. The second Super Bowl loss to Dallas took a lot out of people and their commitment to the team, and going out on Sunday afternoons. After that, the team's run of success came to an end. Attendance diminished. Michael closed the restaurant to move someplace else, and that did not work out.



That's the location of the restaurant today. A strip center 90 degrees off kilter from the entrance. It was a bit unsettling to see the building gone. I spent a good 4-5 years of Sunday's there. The Bills Backers meet at a bar in Dublin now, it's fun, some of the same people still go to the games, even though they have dish network. Others have kids, like me, or have retired or moved on and do not have the investment in the team they way they used to. Maybe this year, with the new signings, and hope of an 0-0 record, I'll go back more.

Is it a trap game?

One of the first things my stepfather said to me today, after seeing me in my Bills polo shirt, was, "You still root for them?"

The day was so busy I was not able to watch the Bills/Patriots game. My parents were in town this weekend, so I had go swim with my son in the pool at their hotel so Grandma can see her Grandson swim duty.

It wasn't a bad gig.

We had some other errands to do and went out to eat at a non-sports bar. My idea. Did not want to be distracted and agitated if the game was tense.

Turns out it was. We got home and the score was tied late in the game. The Bills had come back from being 21 points down. Put the game through the internet radio feed so we could hear John Murphy call the game. The local television affiliate here shows either the Cleveland or Cincinnati games, and the Browns game was not over. But for the life of me when it was over I could not believe they did not immediately switch to the Bills/Pats game as it was very exciting.

Eventually they showed the game, and we had to turn down the radio because the feeds were not even close to being in synch.

Man, that was one crazy finish but seeing the Bills finally beat the Patriots, which they had not done since 2003 was sweet! Belichick losing his cool and losing a time out, Brady intercepted four times, and unable to rally his team to a last second comeback because the Bills won the game on a last second field goal was icing on the victory cake!

How many games were the Bills on the negative side of the win/loss column dealing with last second field goals over, say, the last five years.



I'm celebrating and taking this win, but knowing that 3-0 is only 3-0. There are thirteen games left, all of them tough. None tougher than next weeks game at Cincinnati against the Bengals. If this team is serious about being taken seriously, it is a game that must be won.

Eight years, fifteen games of defeats against New England is finally over. While there are more important things happening in the world, it's good to have a victory beverage or two taking some comfort in the end of a losing streak.

Short Round Up

As a Bills fan you understand that turning the ball over three times in a Super Bowl is not going to help your team win the game. Well played Packers.

Many other bloggers, pundits and internet tough guys have their commentary about last night's game. I'll let the Deep 13 bunch speak for me.



At least it was not a blow out.

One bottle of Drano later, and the bathroom sink is unclogged.

I've figured out an unbelievably easy to convert certain types of files into other types of files on my Mac. This makes me dangerous.

Yesterday's Football and Getting on Youtube

Both games were fairly boring yesterday. I was perked up by my mojito stupor to find that Todd Collins had entered the game as quarterback for Chicago, replacing the injured Jay Cutler.

Collins played for the Bills early in his career. He was handed the starting job after Jim Kelly retired and was a complete waste. Until J.P. Losman came along, Collins was viewed as one of the worst quarterbacks in recent Bills history. So I laughed and laughed loudly whenever he took the field.

Collins did not disappoint, he played two series and was nearly picked off twice. Chicago then replaced him with third string quarterback Caleb Haine, but the damage had already been done.

I missed the second half of the Steelers/Jets game and put on Exit Through the Gift Shop a look at street art, an obsessed film maker turned artist and the elusive Banksy. A very entertaining look at insanity.

Sean FM has been taping many of the events at Writers Block these past few months and some of the work has been put on youtube. I got uploaded last night.

The link to Slam Poet Junction can be found here.

Thanks again to Sean for doing the taping, and for Scott Woods for doing the uploading.

It's that time of the year already - submitting work for consideration in the Columbus Arts Festival. The deadline is Saturday.

I Welcome This

This weekend has been a technological ordeal. All is fine, as long as I avoid getting computer parts and attempting a hard drive repair.

The macbook will be taken care of, but not by me.

It felt really good to get out for a couple of hours and write with some friends and strangers. I've had some unpleasant writing group and workshop experience in the past so I was a bit apprehensive giving it another shot. There was some very good prompts handed out, some friendly criticism given and a boat load of ideas were written down. Have not really written in the past few weeks and putting the pen to page in a free write was something that really kicked me in the ass to write. Looks like it's going to be a Sunday night thing.

Now, if I can only decipher my handwriting!

The Bills are now 0-5. I think they have a good shot at not winning a game this season. Sad, but true.

Robert Green: American Hero

It was a festive atmosphere at the place where I watched half of the USA/England soccer match. About five minutes into my visit, I was accosted by a Liverpool fan/idiot for wearing my Everton jersey. He calmed down after I mentioned that Tim Howard plays for Everton.



Not sure what a group of local bagpipers have to do with a soccer match, but it was a lot of fun just the same.

Know what I like about watching soccer on television? The lack of commercials every three minutes. Networks that do not force promoting of their crappy programming down your throat at every break in the action. Those are some of the things I love about viewing the game. It is constantly in motion. The clock is always counting down. If you turn around, you may miss a great pass, a fine tackle.

I'm slowly giving up my involvement in NFL Football. It's a dying sport that does not give me as much pleasure as it once did. I will not disagree that the fortunes of the Buffalo Bills have something to do with this. I've been saying for years that when their owner, Ralph Wilson, dies, the history of the team in Buffalo will end soon after his funeral, or after the team is sold.

Here's what happened shortly after Dempsey's shot on net yesterday...



It was quite the wild scene at Claddagh yesterday afternoon. Over 2,500 came out to watch the match. I'm still a bit reeling about what happened after ward. It seems the manager of the bar was let go by corporate for reasons that are still unclear to me. I'm not sure why someone would be sacked after the biggest day in that bar's history but a good part of the staff immediately quit in protest.

Just when you find a place to head for a drink once or twice a week, a local with staff that remember your name, weenies have to ruin in, and for what?

I never went to Claddagh for the food, and certainly not the low prices (there were not any), but it was the staff and friendly, welcoming atmosphere that brought me back, something that will probably never happen again.

No More Talking Babies!

A surprisingly good Super Bowl last night. The Saints showing us that turnovers are important. The win is not going to rebuild the city, but if it makes people happy for awhile so be it.

The commercials were blah. A lot of animals were used. What's with the implied interspecies love going on? The monster.com groundhog was getting in on with a high tech fashion babe in a hot tub in the back of a limo. Creepy.

The Tebow ad was understated. Why did NOW complain about that and not the go daddy ad?

The moment Roger Daltrey opened his mouth and a rasp came out I knew the halftime show was in trouble. Can the NFL find a band where the lead singer is not 66 years old for next year's show? Please, enough British dinosaur acts, find an American one. Why not Van Halen? Give Beyonce a shot. I would not be surprised if it were Green Day.

On time changes and Hallmark holidays

Glad Halloween is over. Never really enjoyed participating. There was never any trauma surrounding it, just a lack of wanting to take part. Could never wear a mask because of the glasses. Being creative and coming up with a costume was never a good time.

It's done with, for another year.

Got the upstairs clocks changed. Now onto the ones in the kitchen, back room and the car. For some reason the one on the stove befuddles me, so I'll let my wife handle that one. I'll get the microwave.



I'm taking part in a November challenge to write thirty poems in thirty days. First one has been submitted. Might as well be first today. Could help out with the post IWPS writers block I've been having.

Headed up to Dublin later to watch the Bills game. First time I've seen a game with the Bills Backers this season. They're playing Houston at home. I'd like Buffalo to win but if Schaub and Slayton can score big for Houston my fantasy team does well. Oh to be torn!

Tuned to a natural E, happy to be that way

Not much happening here. Keeping up practicing for IWPS. Doing it in front of the bedroom mirror, which is quite revealing and helpful. Still not memorizing to the level I'd like to. Been watching some video of the competition on youtube. They're good and in a normal world I'd be afraid, very afraid. But, it's all about the fun.

Kid's sleep pattern has been knocked askew for whatever reasons. He did not get to sleep until 2:30AM on Saturday. No nap yesterday, fell asleep at 11:30 after waking up at 9:30. Then he was up speaking gibberish at 4:30. He's still up and has to go on a field trip at school today. I do not know how he does it. His energy level is astonishing.

Had a couple of friends over last night. Emma made a cake. It was normal having people over. It's been awhile since we, ok I, helped entertain guests from in town.

Sent in the refinancing paperwork, now the waiting and seeing begins again. I'm not sure if this is going to happen, for many reasons, but if you do not try you will never know.

Bills offense is non-existent. What a sad game to watch yesterday, and the press trying to push Terrell Owens into saying something inflammatory about the team and organization is completely uncalled for. They're asking the wrong person those questions. At least I got to see Everton, Celtic and the Crew win.

October is going to be a very busy month. There's still time to DONATE for the trip to IWPS. Thank you for your support.

Not Sixty Minute Men, Yet

Sometimes you can play 55 minutes of a football game and win. Not if you're the Buffalo Bills and definitely not if you're playing the New England Patriots.

Like many others, I did not give the Bills much respect going into the game. I was expecting a slaughter. Opening night, Tom Brady's first game in two years, a hostile crowd on the road - it looked bad.

But this team, they surprised me. The offensive line gave Trent Edwards protection, the defense put incredible pressure on Tom Brady. Fred Jackson was amazing, taking over the starting job from the suspended Marshawn Lynch, he was running smart and caught a nifty pass to put the Bills ahead by 11 with five minutes left in the game.



Then a team that knows how to win took over the game from a team that does not know how to hold a lead. Tom Brady knows how to guide a team to victory, like Montana, Bradshaw and Elway, he took over the game against a tiring Bills defense that lost two starters due to injury and got the job done by tossing a pass to Ben Watson to cut the deficit to five.

This is where it ended. On the kickoff Leodis McKelvin did not down the ball in the end zone and chose to run it out. You knew something bad was going to happen the moment he crossed the five (as he fumbled his previous kickoff). Sure enough, he coughed up the ball again and Brady threw another one to Watson. There was your game.

Moral victories stink. Yet, I'm optimistic about the Bills chances against Tampa Bay in the friendly confines of Ralph Wilson Stadium this Sunday. And that is how this fan deals with a tough loss. Yes, the kid looked at me weird when I yelled and my Scottish Wife does not have a clue, but this is what I do for seventeen weeks starting in September. Annually.

Page to page to still on page

Been reading about George and Sam, happy I do not have two autistic children. Having one means you are surrounded by constant energy. I can't imagine having that intensity from both sides, and being outnumbered by it.

Can't say he's a new writer, or that he was completely unknown to me but I just read my first Ian Rankin novel and I was very impressed. I'm going to try and space out the Inspector Rebus novels, which really carry the grit and subtleties of Edinburgh. Rankin knows the city well and makes me want to see more of the city, in the same way Denise Mina knows the streets of Glasgow.



Rebus seems to be a complex character, a heavy drinker, smoker, philanderer and Christian with a lot of issues. There are sixteen more books in the series to go. Maybe I'll get to the end of the series by 2012, if we all live that long.

Last night was another poetry slam at Writers Block for IWPS qualifying. It was another low energy crowd, despite MC Rachel's efforts at getting reactions.

I Drew second in the first round, just like last week. Now I'm going to start complaining about drawing that slot! And just like last week, Scott went first. And just like last week, Scott ended up winning the night.

I wanted to take a cattle prod to the crowd, and did my best in round two as I did Folsom Clothing Blues: Fall 2009. It's a piece about NFL convicts and a fashion show and it keeps updating itself. I put Vick in this edition and forgot all about Plaxico Burress. Next time.

So how does a guy get two years in jail for accidentally shooting himself with an unregistered gun while a drunk driver kills a guy with his Bentley gets thirty days?

Anyway. Back to slam. I ended up in third last night, which I believe puts me in the Grand Slam next Wednesday night. It's going to be a night of intensity as the grand slam poets bring out their best. I went to bed last night and ended up getting up to write a new poem.

That's how it's going to be!

Super Bowl Sunday

Yesterday the pro football hall of fame elected seven new members. Two of them were Buffalo Bills, owner Ralph Wilson and defensive end Bruce Smith.

My fandom of the Bills was solidified in the late eighties in Fredonia. I'd go over to Dave's or Jeff's to watch the game. You could see the team was improving from their malaise with Marv Levy as coach. Levy and GM Bill Polian assembled and molded a heck of a football team.

While not Levy's draft pick, he came along in mid 1987, Smith was the number one pick in 1985, a massive kid out of Virginia Tech. It took a few years and a couple of coaches for Smith to settle in Buffalo. He had some weight, drug and attitude issues.

My favorite Smith memory happened in 1988. At the first NFL game I attended. The 'When Harry Met Sally Game' in fact. They were playing New England. It was a very tough game that neither team wanted to win. There were fumbles, penalties, missed field goals and extra points. Somehow the Bills had managed to pull ahead but New England was setting up for one final drive and a hail mary. Before the last play of the game Smith was lined up wide on the right side of the line and he was pumped - winding up his arm like Pete Townshend before a tremendous power chord. The New England quarterback ran to his right as the play started and Smith ended up running more or less halfway across the field and crushed him with a sack, ending the game.

That quarterback's name was Doug Flutie.



I stood next to him while waiting for chicken wings at BJ's. He was a big man, in amazing shape. His biceps were tremendous. One time he tried to help out a waitress there by clearing a tray of glasses. He dropped them. The bar immediately hushed. Everyone stared. Who was going to laugh at Bruce Smith? You?

Sure, you can mention the four straight Super Bowl losses, everyone does. You have to remember though, in the city of Buffalo, these guys are loved, including Scott Norwood. Especially Scott Norwood. I learned a lot about obsession, loss and resilience from watching these teams come back.

My second favorite Smith memory came as his Buffalo career was winding down (it ended in Washington) in a meaningless Monday night game against Miami. Frank and I just stared at each other watching at Michael Dominic's as Smith was covering a wide receiver on a pass play - and he did a damn good job at it.

I'm happy to see that ninety year old Ralph Wilson was finally elected to the Hall also. He was instrumental in getting the AFL started in the early sixties and while he and Buffalo had a love/hate relationship at times, he's always come through for the city.

Now that he's nearing the end of his life though, it gets a bit complicated. None of his heirs want to run the team. It's going to be sold, but to whom? Keeping the team in Buffalo does not seem to be a part of his will and if it leaves, well, an NFL without the Bills in Buffalo is not a league I will support. I want the team to stay, and hope it does, but that's a big unknown.