CW Post Football today

We drove out to Long Island today and saw CW Post beat St. Anselms 34-0.  We could never get tickets to the Jets and Giants so we'll have to settle for college football.  At $5 a ticket, how could anyone complain.  Too bad it was a one-sided game.  Saturday night oldies was delayed since WABC carried the Army Rice football game.

Oy Vey Pedro gave up 7 runs in 2 1/3 innings

Hey Din and Mike - I am really worried now.  The Mets are slipping badly since they clinched the NL East.  Assuming they lose tonight it will be 3 wins in their last 13 games.  Pedro Martinez was knocked around pretty good by the Atlanta Braves tonight.  It is obvious that he is not ready for the playoffs.  Maybe  he just can't get any velocity on the fast ball.  It is a brand new season once the playoffs begin.

No Jeopardy Tickets This Time

A few weeks ago Jeopardy announced there would be a taping of several celebrity shows at Radio City Music Hall in October.  I sent in a self addressed stamped envelop hoping to get tickets.  Yesterday, I recieved my envelop back.  Instead of the tickets it said that there were over 200,000 requests for tickets and that I lost the lottery.  3 years ago I did get tickets for a taping of a super tournament.  Oh Well.  I'll be watching on TV.  Right now I am reading a new book titled Brainiac by Ken Jennings, the greatest Jeopardy champ.  In part the book talks about how he got on the show, but he does discuss the history of trivia.

Rosh Hashana today

Rosh Hashana is the first day of the Jewish new year.  On this day we stand in judgement and pray for a good year.  It is said that on Rosh Hashana our fate is written and on Yom Kippur it is sealed.  I am not especially religious, but I enjoy many of the traditions of Judaism.  The family has not belonged to a temple since Lee's Bar Mitzvah 5 years ago.  There was an orthodox temple within walking distance of my home.  Over the years the Jewish population of my neighborhood has diminished drastically.  Most of the buildings opened in the early 1950s when the Jews who moved in were young adults.  As time went on most passed away or moved to Florida.  The synagogue building was sold to the adjacent nursing home.  As part of the deal the congregants were allowed to use a community room in the nursing home for services indefinitely.  So for the last 3 years we have gone to those orthodox services.  Almost all of the service is in Hebrew.  I enjoyed the reeform service more since it was mostly in English.  A happy and healthy new year to all readers of this blog.

2006 American league East Champs

Even though the Yankees lost last night they still clinched the American League East title for the 9th straight year.  The Red Sox lost allowing the Yankees to clinch.  So Pagebyrner, if you are reading this, you have 84 years to go before the Red Sox will win another World Series.  I am really hoping that there will be a rematch of the 2000 World Series with the opposite result.  There are no Mets left from the 2000 team.  Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano River, and Bernie Williams are the only Yankees from the 2000 team sill playing for the Yankees.  Senor Garcia and el jefe quien no tiene pelo por la cabaza will be losers this year.  I hope my Spanish is gramatically correct :)

2006 National League East Champs

The New York Mets beat the Florida Marlins 4-0 and finally clinched the National League East Championship.  This is our year.  Bring on the Yankees!!  This Time the Mets will win.

Semiannual trip to Rockaway Beach

It was hot for mid-September with the temperature going into the 80s.  The family took our semiannual trip to Rockaway Beach.  It was pretty much the same as reported in the April 2, 2006 blog entry.  I noticed many new homes are being built.  It seems that old single unit houses are demolished and replaced with small apartment buildings.

Hollywoodland

Since the 1950s yours truly has been a big Superman fan.  Since then I watched the TV series starring George Reeves.  For years it was on Channel 11 in NYC and then TVLand showed it for a while.  So I saw each episode umpteen times.  How could Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen not figure out that Clark Kent was Superman?  Great Cesaers Ghost!  I have a couple of VHS tapes of shows that I recorded over the years.  Today we saw a movie called Hollywoodland about the controversial death of George Reeves.  The original story in 1959 was that he committed suicide since he couldn't find any acting jobs since he was stereotyped as Superman.  The movie was about an investigation that his death was likely a murder.  There were some books written about this.

Another Cemetery visit

My grandparents on my mother's side are buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Farview. NJ.  Today my Uncle Abe (89 years old) flew into Laguardia to meet with my mother, Karen, Lee and I to pay our yearly trip to the cemetery.  My Grandfather, Boruch Wagman, died of cancer at the age of 49 in 1942.  My grandmother, Lena Wagman, lived to age 90 and died in 1979.  After the visit, we had lunch at Ben's Deli in Bayside.

EL Duque had the Wright Stuff Today

We went to our last Met game of the season today.  Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez had good stuff as the Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 as David Wright had the game winning hit.  The Mets will clinch the National League East Championship soon.

Look Who's Number One!

For the first time in 30 years, Bob Dylan tops The Billboard 200 with "Modern Times." Not only is it the legendary songwriter's first album to reach the throne since "Desire" in 1976, it's also his highest debuting album and his best sales week since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991. The Columbia set moved 192,000 copies in the United States in its first week.

"Modern Times" is Dylan's third consecutive top 10 studio set, following 1997's "Time Out of Mind" and 2001's "Love & Theft." Aside from "Desire" and "Modern Times," only two other Dylan albums assumed the plateau on the chart: 1974's "Planet Waves" and the 1975 classic "Blood on the Tracks."

Not bad for a 65 year old

 

Bought Dylan Tickets for Nov 13 at Nassau Coliseum

I bought tickets for Bob Dylan at Nassau Coliseum on Monday November 13th.  Ticketmaster charges increase the cost of tickets by 25%.  The only alternative is to go to the venue to buy the tickets.  I always buy Madison Square Garden tickets there since I pass by the Garden on my way home.

Visited Dad's Grave today/Happy Birthday Mom

It is customary in the Jewish religion to visit the graves of loved ones right before the High Holy Days.  Karen, Lee and I went with my mother to visit my Dad's  grave in New Montefiore Cemetary out on Long Island. It is hard to believe that 9 years have passed since he died in 1997.  We also visited the graves of Karen's mother and grandmother in nearby Beth Moses Cemetary.  From there we went to the Scobee Diner in Little Neck for my Mom's bithday.  Since she was born in Europe, she never knew her exact date of birth, but she always celebrates in on September 4.

Went to Macy's Today

I just turned on Sounds of the Sixties, one of my favorite Internet radio shows, and heard a new DJ named Johnnie Walker.  He said that Brian Matthew was taking a vacation.  I think Brian deserves some rest and relaxation.  Reg at NJIT who is British told me that Brian has been on the air in the UK for over 40 years.  The sun finally came out today.  I took Lee to Cunningham Park in the morning to shoot baskets.  In the afternoon we went to Macy's.  I bought 3 long sleeve dress shirts to replace three shirts that were worn out.  All of my dress shirts give out when there is a tear on my left elbow.  I spoke to my old buddy Anthony yesterday who works at a public library on Long Island.  Sadly, his boss is really giving him a hard time there and he is having trouble coping with it.  I wish him well.

Rainy Day - Movie today

The remnants of Tropical Storm Ernesto hit New York today so the weather was pretty gloomy.  We went to see the movie Invincible about a football player who walked onto a tryout for the Philadelphia Eagles and made the team.