Syracuse University football fans do not need a trip down the hole that 0-3 would bring

This is the Saturday where the Syracuse University football team shows why new head coach Scott Shafer has kept the faith. Or else. If the Orange doesn’t look very, very good against the Wagner Seahawks in the Carrier Dome, fans around these parts will give up on the season. A mark of 0-3 and it’s…

How do you like this new look called Expound?

Old friends, I present to you a new look. The folks at WordPress have a bunch of designs available when you’re sharing posts with the world through their blog platform. Since the start of markbialczak.com in February, I’ve gone with a theme they call Wu Wei. I believe it served us well, you and I,…

A Parade of Homes that winds through the cul-de-sac of very big dreams

Every year at this time, they open the doors of a stretch of spanking new houses in Central New York and allow the world inside. Dreamers welcome. Big dreamers, especially. It’s called the Parade of Homes, and the only strict rule is that you must pull on the white, don’t-scuff-the-floor, disposable booties they hand everybody…

Remember radio commercial makers, we’re listening while driving the car

Two little beefs to note as we get ready to ring in this autumn-is-coming weekend in Syracuse. Nope, they have nothing to do with falling temperatures. This time around, at least. Welcome back, Grumpus. Today I’ve got to gripe about the stuff they put on the soundtrack of radio commercials. I’m driving in my car,…

Anne Tyler’s odd and interesting characters in ‘The Beginner’s Goodbye’ again help put life into perspective

Every time I pick up an Anne Tyler novel, I feel my age. And am quite happy about my place in time. Tyler was just 22 when her first novel was published. “If Morning Ever Comes” came out in 1964, when I was still getting into Dennis the Menace comic books. So it took awhile…

It’s that special week when golf ends and bowling begins

It’s overlap week for me. It happens once a year, but only if the two schedules fall just right. Out with the golf league. In with the bowling league. Two days separate the end and the beginning. I’m glad that the days fall in a way that the finish comes before the start. When the…

How about that first weekend of ACC football, Orange fans?

Did you get into that first weekend following ACC football, Orange Nation? It was long. Mine started at 12:30 Saturday, when my alma mater Maryland kicked off — then kicked butt, putting up 40 points in the first half, thank you for coming back so ready from that ACL tear, QB C.J. Brown — and…

We wind up our New York State Fair 2013, and I get to talk to the goats

I checked off the last of my boxes Sunday as my dear wife Karen and I walked our way around the New York State Fair. My first two 2013 excursions were concentrated around the music at Chevy Court, and the shows by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and Vince Gill both lived up to my…

Syracuse and Penn State ready to add a new page to long, dramatic football rivalry

College football sure moves fast these days. And I’m not only talking about the lightning speed in which the players motor toward and away from other, or the dash to the line of scrimmage without a huddle to start the next play. As Syracuse University followers count down to Saturday’s opener against Penn State down…

With Vince Gill playing his country, it’s a graceful good time at Chevy Court

Vince Gill is popular in our household. Just a couple hours back from her annual women’s getaway, I gently reminded my dear wife Karen that Wednesday also marked the occasion of the country guy’s show at the New York State Fair’s Chevy Court. And she wanted to go. Bless her heart. It was a quietly…