Tuesday, May 31, 2011

good talk

I saw Bernard Hopkins fight Jean Pascal on the HBO recently, Hopkins was "46" last January. 2 years ago last October Kelly Pavlik was supposed to have put Bernard in the Old Folks Home on life support but Kelly did well by lasting the 12 rounds. Hopkins has spoken of running for elective office should they only overlook his 6 felony convictions and 5 years in prison and maybe they should take him up on it, I'm sure that Hopkins possesses great wisdom and as he is a very vocal supporter of all things Philadelphia I'm quite sure that he'd do better than those currently in office. Hopkins went to prison when he was "17" at was there at a time in his life when many of us were in college maybe that was his college. He's been his own manager for a long time and has brokered many good deals for himself, when he fought De La Hoya Oscar got paid more since he was the bigger star but with Hopkins getting 10 million, as Bernard put it "Since when is 10 million 'only." In particular Philly's mass transit system is bad and slow I'm sure he could bring improvement. Bernard Hopkins is a very impressive guy. I took Boxing in phys. ed.,at Ohio State, no headgear, and got a "B," a very popular course many of the guys took it. And they still offer it, you'll look far and wide to find a college that offers Boxing as you need a qualified instructor, Ohio State then and now the biggest campus in the country could do this. I toured "University of Phoenix" Stadium in Glendale outside of Phoenix where the Arizona Cardinals play and where they have the Fiesta Bowl. A great tour, they grow the field a few feet behind the stadium and cut it up and cart it in for the games. The area where the teams gather before they go on the field is called "the vomitorium." And they say that their Screens are as big as the ones in Arlington in between Fort Worth and Dallas at "Cowboys Stadium" which I also toured. A heck of a great tour, over 2 hours, and they take you everywhere even into the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders dressing room and Jerry Jones' private suite. Jerry Jones hasn't experienced the success he had when Jimmy Johnson was coach, won both his Superbowls, or Barry Switzer, played in and won the Superbowl his first year as an NFL Coach. Jimmy Johnson said I like young players, they don't get hurt and they don't have a lot of opinions, I'm not interested in a lot of opinions. Those seats that those people were denied for this past Superbowl were the worst ones in there. When Woody Hayes was at Ohio State for 26 years he had very good success and not only did he not receive NCAA penalties for committing violations nobody ever accused him of committing them. It looks bad for Ohio State, how well has SMU done since Eric Dickerson was there and this thing is snowballing. Ohio State year in and year out spends the most on their athletic programs and there's no excuse for cheating. I've always rooted for their sports teams but thought their academia was weak, when I was there you needed 196 credits to graduate the last I heard it was down to 181. I've often thought of suing Ohio State for a refund of my tuition but guess I'll let sleeping dogs lie. ".....When the walls come tumbling down, when the walls come tumbling, tumbling.........."

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

good talk

As late as 1964 the U.S. Olympic Basketball Team had 4 Goodyear Wingfoots, a third of the team, one of those was Larry Brown, yes that......When I was a child I took piano lessons for 4 or 5 years, I'm very well-bred. From Phoenix I went to Santa Fe, New Mexico, a very good tourist city. I went into both houses of legislature in the Capitol Building and also the Governor's Office, I asked that the Governor come out and greet me but was told that she was busy. Santa Fe is full of interesting museums such as the "Georgia O'Keeffe," which displays over a hundred of her works (lived in Santa Fe for the last part of her long life). The Palace of the Governors is the oldest public building in the U.S. and is now a museum, there's the Museum of International Folk Art which consists of over 10 thousand handmade dolls and toys, toy houses, the Museum of American Indian Arts and Culture and the American Indian Arts Museum. Santa Fe has the "Loretto Chapel" with its spiral staircase and was the first Gothic Building west of the Mississippi. The Mission of San Miguel is one of the oldest churches in the country and has the oldest bell in the country. Santa Fe is up 6500 to 7000 feet and you can feel the altitude (not as bad as La Paz, Bolivia where I've been whose airport is at 13 thousand feet). When I was in Kansas City, Mo., I counseled amongst the local Negroes and inquired whether Arthur Bryant's truly had the best barbecue in the country. I was told by many that Gates and Sons was as good or maybe even better, so of course I went to both. So which did I prefer, "Chef Edwards Barbecue" in Oakland is easily the best. Chef Edwards is a real kindly older man who enjoys making people happy with his delicious 'cue and he and his helpers prepare the most delicious openfaced sandwich which has a prodigious amount of barbecued pork, this is true culinary heaven, ate there twice wish I was eating there now, maybe Barry would like to stop in as his picture is on the wall.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

good talk

I wonder if that French International Monetary Fund guy is going to explain the righteousness of his actions by saying, She Was a Woo-Mon. As far as Arnold goes he did take over California's governorship during a very trying time, for California that's all the time, as a friend and myself said when he first assumed leadership, who would want to rule it. They gunned down an unarmed man and wouldn't even give his body to his mother, even Caiaphas and the Romans would do this. The U.S. would be flush with cash if they didn't have these illegal aliens and their offspring, you've run this country into the ground, be proud of it. The only TV show I made it a point to watch was "America's Most Wanted," just a couple days ago they picked somebody up on the Strip who was profiled in February. My older brother, Bob, referred to John Walsh as a "great man," it's a real pity, for sure a lot of people liked that show I guess not enough. From Las Vegas on Sunday, March 20 I journeyed to Phoenix on Greyhound. I went to the Phoenix Art Museum, I've been to the Heard Museum and seen all that Indian stuff, I went to the old State Capitol Building which is now a museum and of course that was quite good. And then I sat in both the House and Senate while they were in session. I sat in the Senate when a measure that had passed the House was being voted on and passed prompting a Senator to arise and appraise the proceedings to the passage of this crisp, new law as "......Frivolous and a waste of our time......"

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

good talk

I came back a week and a half ago from a 7-week bus trip, I recently recovered as by the time I got back I was on the verge of a physical breakdown due to the hectic pace. I bought a 60ba-day Greyhound "Discovery Pass" for $539 and it was good on all the other buslines, about 15, in the U.S. and Cananda. I hadn't done this for 8 years and was dubious as the buslines have cut the number of buses by about twothirds since then but it turned out real great. I was at 6 major-league baseball games around the country in 6 stadiums that I had never seen a game in, I was in 5 Presidential Libraries 4 of which I hadn't been to so now I've been in all 12 of the Presidential Libraries, most of you TV bumpkins have never been to one but you walk around with your chests stuck out. A teacher of mine once said, isn't it suprising how often ignorance takes a pride in itself. I was at 2 musicals on Broadway and the International Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. and much more. I was expecting the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots to be prominently displayed and they were and for the years that my father played for them. A team that my Old Man played for in the International Basketball Hall of Fame. Also in there were the Harlem Renaissance (the Rens), didn't these 2 have a dust-up. At 5 A.M. on Easter Sunday I came in on Peter Pan to the Peace Bridge to cross into Canada, that is April 24, 2011. I've been all over Canada from Vancouver to Halifax and about everywhere in between and thought it was ok but nothing too great. I hadn't been to Canada in 8 years and thought I'd go to Toronto for a day or 2. I had my U.S. Passport and showed it to the Candadian Agent, #15380, some girl, and she asked me if I planned on living in Canada illegally. Why no, I just want to go to Toronto for a day or 2. She turned me over to Agent #14091, a superior who seemed very sleep-deprived as though he hadn't been to bed for at least 2 days, and he took me into an office where he concluded both verbally and in writing.....He has no ties to the U.S. (I was born an American Citizen). This guy fingered my Mastercard and 2 Debit Cards as well as $1800 in American Express Travelers Checks, he then left the office and I cracked the door open a couple feet as it was stuffy and this guy came running back in angrily saying that I was being watched on camera. This guy called a taxi service who sent a cabbie to whom this Canadian Agent gave my U.S. Passport and a paper to be given to the American Border Agents about a half mile away (entrusting somebody's passport to some taxidriver was novel to me). This taxidriver dropped me off at the American Border Agents Office where I was rudely received. I was told (this was about 6 A.M. on April 24)......This isn't a bus station......I was told to leave quickly and was urged to walk miles in the dark back to Buffalo carrying a heavy bag, I was told that it was "quite safe." The alternative I was told was to take a taxi which they would summon and this sounded better. Had the Americans let me take one of the buses that were stopping at their station I wouldn't have had to pay 24.80 for the taxi. What it is is that the Public Employees look down on the Public regarding as a cow to be milked and suckers for allowing themselves to be treated that way, the Canadian Border Officers were mentally unstable but the American Border Officers were just no good.