Now a Moment to Pat Ourselves on the Back

Sean and his Daddy - two weeks after the blog began: August 31, 2006.  We're at Playland in Rye, NY.

Six years ago today, I started this enterprise.  Blogs sadly come and go (oh Tim Parry, Mick, and Matt Hamilton, we miss you...among others...and Sean Kilkelly, we need more!).  In the meantime, we carry on.

Some say blogs are dying.  Maybe so.  I still enjoy it.  I'm always thinking about things to write.  I might lack the time I once had (damn jobs getting in the way!) but I still look forward to doing this.  It hasn't made me famous, and goodness knows it really hasn't made me money, but I have made friends and broadened my world as a result.

I even have a person in my life who encourages me to keep writing (thanks, Lisa).

So here we are.  If you've never read post number one, well, here it is, as I wrote about a subject near and dear to my heart: the old Yankee Stadium.  I'm not sure I could pick a favorite post, but I have many that I'm proud of.  Still it would be hard to pick them all out.

I'm glad to still be doing this as the seventh year begins.

Let's do some links (a long-running standard, along with "Off the Bench")!

Vin Scully did a podcast with Jimmy Traina at Sports Illustrated.  I haven't even listened to it yet, but it's The Great Scully, and that's all that matters.

Under no circumstances...no (Stuck in the 80's).  There should not be A Christmas Story 2.  Not a single person from the original is in it.  Of course, it's going straight to video, and that's where it belongs.

My friend Charles Costello writes a really good blog via the Greenwich Time, and, in theory, it is supposed to be about education.  Yet on occasion, as is his wont, Chuck delves into things like sports, personal issues, even pets.  In other words, it's a blog about education but isn't STRICTLY about education.  I often think I want more comments on this blog to stimulate conversation and debate.  The problem is: be careful what you wish for.  In reading the comments on Chuck's page, I could feel my blood pressure spiking.  The comments were so foolish (especially when they come from the always-gutless "Anonymous") that it made my hair hurt.  Then there were the repeat posters that just seem to have an anti-Costello bias.

People.  Please.  Get...a...grip.

I've stayed out of the Chick-Fil-A thing, but Robert Ford, the Kansas City Royals broadcaster, has thrown his pennies in.  I have to say that Roberts' take is spot-on.  I'm very much in favor of gay marriage and respect Chick-Fil-A president and COO Dan Cathay's right to his opinion.  It's clear that the company is openly conservative, given their policy of being closed on Sundays and support of very Conservative causes.  Sure, one has the right to withhold supporting any business, and I'm all for that (heck, that's the American Way - or whatever).  Yet...I also like their food, and , as Robert said, "Every time I’ve visited a Chick-Fil-A restaurant, I’ve gotten what I’ve paid for and their employees have treated me and other customers respectfully."  And so...yeah.  That.

I'm not going out of my way to get there, and I can't stress enough that I don't believe in things Chick-Fil-A stands for.  But...I wonder how many companies there are that have questionable values that the media has not exposed?

Enough of that rant.

Anyway, thanks for reading and all of that good stuff.  It's amazing how different things are six years later.  Now it's time to begin year seven.