This guy Beels has heard lots of nicknames

I called my buddy KP. That’s short for Kingpin, a nickname he was given three decades ago. And as we golfed virtually, ate burgers and drank drafts, KP called me Beels. That’s a nickname that’s stood through decades, too. But it certainly wasn’t my first nickname. When I was of soft-cereal age, there used to…

A community is welcome to appreciate art at La Casita

Artist Abisay Puentes says he changed the concept several times as the deadline approached for the opening of his exhibit “Mist.” On opening night last week in the newly refurbished La Casita in Syracuse, N.Y., community members slowly walked past his final result. It was an interesting display. Part mural, part gallery. The native of…

Virtually time for the Masters

Kingpin and I stepped up to the first tee at Augusta National last night. The fairway on the screen was green as can be in the golfing booth in OptiGolf. For our second virtual golf session between real rounds here in Syracuse, N.Y., my best friend and I decided to choose the computer rendering of…

Forecaster says one more snow, but I look for spring anyway

The Syracuse TV station weather guy said Wednesday morning shall bring one last snow. He called it the last gasp of winter, as a matter of fact. I hope so. As I walked with Ellie B, aka Dogamous Pyle, this afternoon prior to the last snowy hurrah, I kept my eyes open for any signs…

I’ve walked a lot of miles in my shoes

Some people are made to run, I thought to myself again on Sunday morning as I watched 1,600 or so of those type of folks file past my Syracuse city home during the second Syracuse Half Marathon. Not me. I am a walker. I knew that way, way, way back in my life. The determined…

‘Divergent’ stars work well together, even in a chatty theater

I liked the tension in ‘Divergent.’ Stars Shailene Woodley and Theo James work well together as Dauntless faction student and teacher in a Chicago were separation is the only way to live. I didn’t much like the noise level in the row of the crowded matinee theater in which sat my dear wife Karen and…

Do you suffer from a broken bracket picker?

The Monday after the first frantic weekend of the NCAA Tournament has arrived. Filling out your bracket last week you envisioned a puffed-out chest as you boasted about how brilliant your picks were. Oh, you’d brag at work for sure, each and every time the subject of the tournament came up. You’d quickly volunteer how…

1,600 runners, 17 degrees, and 13.1 miles of snowy Syracuse streets

The runners for the second edition of the Syracuse Half Marathon this morning were greeted by 13.1 miles of city streets that had been kissed with a a spring layer of snow during the wee hours. The temperature was 17 degrees. And yet they came fast, strong and bundled pretty good against those elements, streaming…

And the NCAA Bracket answer is yes, most definitely

Here’s a special entering-round-two edition of “I can’t believe anybody searched this.” Somebody googled this term today and ended up on one of my increasing number of NCAA Tournament bracket posts. The curious soul wondered enough to type in and click somewhere: “Is it cheating to change my bracket.” Now, I could say: It depends…

The 13.1 miles includes .1 past our house

They will come thundering down our city Syracuse neighborhood hill again Sunday. The runners participating in the second edition of the Syracuse Half Marathon are sure to be a colorful bunch. Cold, too. Forecasts right now are for high temperatures in the 20s. About 1,600 runners have signed up to log the 13.1 miles that…