Thank you, Sly, for handing our Rocky over to a smart new Creed

Not one bit of the movie franchise fanfare this year has gone to the rebirth of the tale of the tough boxer from Philadelphia who could take on all the punches, literally and figuratively, the world could throw at him. With Star Wars: The Force Awakens about to burst forth from Disneydom and The Hunger…

Another hot bowling Sunday

We rolled our second Sunday special session last week. This time, I arrived for the 10 a.m. start slightly sleepy-eyed after working the closing shift at my new job. My practice rolling at Bowling Green in North Syracuse did not go well, as I felt like an old man pleading with his joints to loosen…

Mister Met, lost and found

I noticed it with a feeling. Mister Met was calling me from afar, the little guy from the front of my blue baseball cap, the one my dear wife Karen bought for me on our trip this season to watch our favorite team play at Citi Field. And sure enough, my latest favorite hat was…

Keeping abreast of this Happy Thanksgiving

After careful consideration, we went with the turkey breast instead of the whole bird this year. It’s going to be outstanding, I’m sure, what with all the other excellent accompaniments planned for our holiday table by my dear wife Karen here in our Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. I’ve seen the…

What might you say thanks for this holiday?

As we prepare for Thanksgiving tomorrow, I got to thinking about things I’ve taken in around the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood in the last year that have made my life richer in some way. In fact, I picked a dozen such memories I’ve written about over the last year —…

Drop the Puck!

I’m the guy at the hockey game who likes to yell “Drop the puck” at the officials when I think he’s keeping the guys with the sticks waiting in the faceoff circles too long. Last week I learned a new meaning of one of my favorite phrases between periods of the Syracuse Crunch contest. They…

It’s over for The Hunger Games, and it’s epic

Talk about war and peace. Katniss Everdeen rests. The fourth and likely finale in the Hunger Games franchise that started with the girl who fired an arrow into the hearts of so many in 2012 landed in America’s theaters this pre-Thanksgiving weekend with its snowballing success and great expectations for star Jennifer Lawrence and the…

18 bands big is quite a state

The kids in uniform kept coming up the steps and passing our seats at the Carrier Dome last Saturday. Many kids in many different uniforms, up the steps they went to seats far up in th section. It was obvious that something was going on at halftime. The guys behind us joked half-heartedly about how…