end of an era (parseghian)

so i am sittin in the Heidelberg Tavern, swashin down a mug of Radderberger in the tiny enclave of new jersey known as the mile squared, and word begins to spread like a cancerous wildfire that the legendary CHAR House we lovingly call Arthurs Tavern was on life support....not expected to live to see the fireworks on the 4th....THIS CANT BE....and so without a moment to spare, save 2 more reddebergers and a quick stop with the nazi in the 8th street Tavern we hightailed it over to Arthurs for the wake....one last delicous serving of Shrimp, Garlic Bread, Hot Peppers , Cole Slaw and SCHTEAK ! ! ! if this grand old dame shutters her doors this weekend, the world will be a sadder place.......happy to be there one last time, wishing only we had time to do her justice, but for the record, the final attendance was higgins, hoffman, molloy, O'Dowd and Pazarecki.......sleep easy baby, theres nothin worth stealin in here (B.Dylan)

Run for Ryan

i strongly recommend the RuN for Ryan......a 6year old boy that suffered from heart disease his entire short life and passed away, his Dad announced today that next year will be the LAST run for Ryan..... ...its a tough 5K through Horse country in Middletwon/Highlands....and afterwards you get to drink beer with real live horsies....he wanted my Hakell hat and a sip of my beer, I gave him nothing ...i recoginized him from Monmouth Park where i lost a mortgage payment on his sorry tail.

vote NO aug 1st

Enough is enough already……now comes word that the Pharmacy Killer proposed to his fiance on the jumbotron at an islander game….this Team must be forced to leave the Tris-state area before more inoocent people are killed.

hwllo darkness my old friend

as Paul Simon would concur, things have been very quiet around headquarters lately....august humidity has found us in mid june and with the stanley cup finals now in the rear view window and our good friend anthony weiner searching for a job, well we just dont have much to say ....

belmont

the pick is Master of Hounds and Stay Thirsty closes out the Exacta....

for the record

last nights OT goal was NOT the fastest in NHL Finals History, that honor belongs to Brian Skrudland for the Canadiens in game 2 of the 1986 finals at Calgary.

the day the winds of change did shift

ah poor Jim Tressel....he was riding high for a long time ..and i hated him and THE Ohio State University.....and then came labor Day weekend 2009....and they hosted NAVY...a game I was supposed to be at inside the bIG HOrshoe of Colombus Ohio ( except eggrollvika backed out at tyhe last minute.......NAVY gave em a run for the money, but that's not the story......

The story is that Coach Tressel ....for the first and only time in Ohios State History...allowed the visiting team to take the field simultaneously with the Buckeyes.....and Ohio State players carried American Flags to honot their visitors........

That is when i turned my hatred into admiration, and thus became both a Tressel and a Buckeye fan ...kinda........I rooted for them against Maze N Blue and most of the other Little Ten schools ( Never against Penn St, The Illini or NWestern...)

and that is the only explanation for why a Coach who could do NO WRONG in Columbus, had to resign the other day......the Tomcat Curse......if I like you or root for you or stop hatin ya........yer doomed...

nobody sleeps like Gravey

in Observance

"...gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime....let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as sacred charges upon the Nation's gratitude,--the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan." --General John Logan, General Order No. 11, 5 May 1868

Matteau Matteau

Matteau Matteau

It was the Friday Night of Memorial day weekend, the City was electric and pensive, nerves were on end. I was scared out of my boots as I rode the subway up to Mustang Sallys, our traditional pregame watering hole in the spring of 1994…….I couldn't even eat…..just stood by the door with Donn and Craig , washing down Budweiser beer like it was going out of style...Penn station was abuzz with Commuters getting away for the weekend, upstairs in the Worlds Most famous Arena the Broadway Blueshirts were about to take the ice for a critical game 7 of the Eastern Conf Finals against the hated NJ devils……..I settled into my seat in section 419, row f , put two full buckets of said Budweiser under my aisle seat, rose for Mr Ammorante and the singing of our National Anthem…..and I remember thinking to myself, for the rest of my life, whatever happens tonight, will come flooding back to me every Friday of Memorial Day weekend …..they have to win……….first period was a scoreless draw…..more Budweiser beer…….getting more nervous as the night wears on, which of course leads to faster drinking…….out to the rotunda between periods……staring at the Post office…….please God……..midway through the deuce…….Brian leetch skates in from the circle……broduer defending 7th ave…….Leetchie pulls a spin-o-rama----lets go with a bullet….the light goes on……….the Garden erupts……YES !!!!!................the period ends…….more beer….back to the rotunda……20 minutes from the finals…..the City knows it…….people are now gathering on the Post Office stairs across the street…….people without tickets are coming to the garden area to share in the celebration….I had chills on my neck……ran into Kenny Coco…….the last thing he says to me is that when we hold on to win 1-0 , Richter will tie the record for most shutouts in the postseason……..Richter……The Rock of Gibraltar….he was going to single-handedly win this thing…….very nervous to start the 3rd period…..it only gets worse….every shift….every dump in…..every whistle…..the crowd is bezerk……watching the clock….praying for an insurance goal…….10 minutes……..8 minutes…..5 minutes……we are soo close……..2 minutes……the place is on its feet……..can't hear the whistle….can't hear yourself think……high fives all around……"THIS IS THE LAST MINUTE TO PLAY IN THE PERIOD"…….BEDLAM……….goosebumps….chills…..sweating……nervous………30 seconds………broduer to the bench……they dump in…..one last push…….i'm squinting toward the 7th ave net from my 8th avenue seats……..10 seconds……loose puck…mad scramble…..cant follow the puck……the devils are jumping up and down….why?....the light is on….7 seconds….tie game……..

It was like being kicked in the stomach……..stunned silence………I left my seat and walked to the rotunda before they had the faceoff……..stood starring at the post office………TV Crews with live reporters waiting on 8th ave for the delighted faithful to exit the building…..word spreads that they tied the game….the lights for the cameras start getting turned off…..we are going to OT……..a sad sickness and eerie silence hovers in the building……we are never going to win this damn cup….


Me , Donn and Craig barely said a word to each other during intermission……it was like Clavins up there……somebody must have died……we retook our seats…..I could not concentrate…..the first ot was a blur……..I watched the red light behind richter fully expecting to see it go on…….everytime they came into our zone I was sure the game would end……….midway through the period , the faithful woke up………Lets Go Rangers was back……we were exhausted and angry…….but we could not score…….back to the rotunda…..back to the window….

Back to our seats…….double OT …….wornout….feel like I went 10 rounds with Tyson….not sure how much more of this I can take……Devils are shooting at 7th ave…….blushirts are attacking our 8th ave net…..we get a chance, they get a chance…..back and forth and back and forth……3 minutes in.. the puck dances through our crease….it's going in ……..out of nowhere comes leetch……he swats it away…it hits a devil and is heading back towards the empty net….where is richter?.......still not sure what happened….to this day I think it hit the post….somehow the light did not go on……somehow the puck did not go in…I can't take this………..we dump in….they dump out….BUT NO …..we keep in and redirect around the net……not sure who is chasing the puck, watching Tikanen sneak in from the point for a pass……someone is emerging from the boards behind the net with the puck….a devil is hounding him……pass it to TIK……..NO…..he attempts to stuff it in ……YES !!!!!!!!...

MATTEAU MATTEAU………..STEPHANE MATTEAU…………..and the Rangers have one more hill to climb and it's Mount Vancouver……the Rangers are going to the finals………..the rest is beautiful history……..

As for me……we stayed and watched the trophy presentation…….the Garden was electric again….like New years eve……back to Mustang Sally's….Met Kevo there....a cab home…..cars honking horns on the Brooklyn Bridge…….went to PJ's Pub……was still there at 4:00 a.m. ……….people walking up and down 5th ave with beers, stopping traffic…..it was crazy………..

NOPE…..I will never ever allow the Friday of memorial day weekend to pass without reflection on that night….

Fleet Week

let the drinking begin....

Salutations

To Bob Dylan on your 70th Birthday, I toast you with your own words.

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young

Preakness Prognastication

i know my loyal readers are sitting on the edge of their collective barstools waiting for this pick....probably so they can toss my horse out of their exotics, I am tempted to back to the well with DIALED IN......i don't believe that conspiracy theory that Zito used the Derby as a Prep for this 5million dollar bonus, but I do think the Horse and the Trainer are too good not to show up, i will include, but won't be my major wager......i was leaning towards astrology until he drew the dreaded one post.....its a short race and the early lead is not such a bad thing, but if you get squeezed early its over.......we all know Baffert owns Pimlico, but i have made the personally conflicted decision NOT to go with the Midnight Interlude........King Congie has a great story line and would be sweet revenge for Robby A , but this is the real world and not a disney movie....GaGo Gomez is the BEST Jockey out there ( respects to Mike Smith and Johnny V) so SWAY AWAY is worth looking at.....but again I keep coming back to ZITO and DIALED IN ......alas I have been dreadfully wrong in the past.

one blip i read post Derby was that Animal Kingdom had the best workouts all week at Churhill, was tearing up the track.....and so for the preakness i decided to see just who was blistering through Baltimore this week.....and it was none other than Todd Pletchers DANCE CITY....and that friends is where this Cat will be spending his schekles.....

worth a wager......with Randy Savage passing away yesterday, Karma would suggest the MUCHO MACHO MAN is worth a play......why not tie him to the Animal Kingdom for a 9/11 exacta.


on the bright side.....when the world ends tonight we wont have to pay CHIPPY

kinda silly

so i was out way, way, way too late last night, i had originally scheduled today off but decided to go in and save the vacation day for warmer weather, but what happens if the world DOES end come saturday....boy will i feel silly with unused vacation days....

Dylan Speaks

in CASE you missed it, Bob Dylan penned the below letter to his legions on his website in reaction to negative press from his Historic trip to China, what he meant was, show me someone who's not a parasite and i'll go out and say a prayer for him.

Allow me to clarify a couple of things about this so-called China controversy which has been going on for over a year. First of all, we were never denied permission to play in China. This was all drummed up by a Chinese promoter who was trying to get me to come there after playing Japan and Korea. My guess is that the guy printed up tickets and made promises to certain groups without any agreements being made. We had no intention of playing China at that time, and when it didn't happen most likely the promoter had to save face by issuing statements that the Chinese Ministry had refused permission for me to play there to get himself off the hook. If anybody had bothered to check with the Chinese authorities, it would have been clear that the Chinese authorities were unaware of the whole thing.

We did go there this year under a different promoter. According to Mojo magazine the concerts were attended mostly by ex-pats and there were a lot of empty seats. Not true. If anybody wants to check with any of the concert-goers they will see that it was mostly Chinese young people that came. Very few ex-pats if any. The ex-pats were mostly in Hong Kong not Beijing. Out of 13,000 seats we sold about 12,000 of them, and the rest of the tickets were given away to orphanages. The Chinese press did tout me as a sixties icon, however, and posted my picture all over the place with Joan Baez, Che Guevara, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. The concert attendees probably wouldn't have known about any of those people. Regardless, they responded enthusiastically to the songs on my last 4 or 5 records. Ask anyone who was there. They were young and my feeling was that they wouldn't have known my early songs anyway.

As far as censorship goes, the Chinese government had asked for the names of the songs that I would be playing. There's no logical answer to that, so we sent them the set lists from the previous 3 months. If there were any songs, verses or lines censored, nobody ever told me about it and we played all the songs that we intended to play.

Everybody knows by now that there's a gazillion books on me either out or coming out in the near future. So I'm encouraging anybody who's ever met me, heard me or even seen me, to get in on the action and scribble their own book. You never know, somebody might have a great book in them

Saturday May 21st

Armegedon ? Preakness ? ?

well they say the world is going to end this Saturday, so my advice is to Call Chippy early to get your Preakness action in before it all comes crashing down, if you loose, you don't have to pay, but if you win you have the satisfaction of going out a winner.....

i have to wait until the Post Position Draw before I make my selection known.....but I will say that my good friend Mr. Bob Baffert "OWNS" teh Preakness.

Boogaard

NEW YORK -- New York Rangers enforcer Derek Boogaard was found dead Friday in his Minneapolis apartment. He was 28.

The team announced Boogaard's death on Friday night, but gave no details.

The Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis first reported Boogaard was found dead in his home by members of his family. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office in Minnesota confirmed those details and said an autopsy was pending.

"Derek was an extremely kind and caring individual," Rangers president and general manager Glen Sather said. "He was a very thoughtful person, who will be dearly missed by all those who knew him. We extend our deepest sympathies to his family, friends and teammates during this difficult time."

Boogaard signed a four-year, $6.5 million deal with Rangers in July and appeared in 22 games with them last season. He had a goal and an assist to go with 45 penalty minutes.

One of the most feared fighters in the league, Boogaard missed the last 52 games of the regular season with a concussion and shoulder injury and did not play in the playoffs.

"The NHLPA is deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Derek Boogaard," NHL Players' Association executive director Don Fehr said in a statement. "Derek was a well-liked and respected member of the NHLPA, and his passing is a great loss to the entire hockey community. Our sincere condolences to Derek's many friends and family during this difficult time."

Boogaard began his NHL career with Minnesota and appeared in 255 games with the Wild from 2005-10.

"The Minnesota Wild organization sends our deepest sympathies to the family of Derek Boogaard," team said in a statement. "Derek was a fan favorite during his five seasons with the Wild and will be greatly missed here in Minnesota and throughout the NHL. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Boogaard family during this tragic time of loss."

In 277 regular-season games with Minnesota and the Rangers over six seasons, he had three goals and 13 assists and 589 penalty minutes.

The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, native was Minnesota's seventh-round choice, 202nd overall, in the 2001 draft.

Boogaard took an active role in community endeavors with the two teams he played for in his career, particularly with regard to the military. He supported the Defending the Blue Line Foundation, which is a non-profit charitable foundation that aims to help children of military members play hockey. He created "Boogaard's Booguardians" with the Rangers, hosting military members and their families at Madison Square Garden for all Rangers home games. He also worked with the Garden of Dreams Foundation.

It is the second death of a player in the Rangers organization in the past three years. Alexei Cherepanov, chosen by New York with the 17th overall pick in the 2007 draft, died in Chekhov, Russia, on Oct. 13, 2008, after collapsing on the bench during a KHL game while playing with Avangard Omsk. The 19-year-old Cherepanov didn't sign with the Rangers and never played in the NHL.

Roman Lyashenko, who briefly played with the Rangers several years ago, was found dead in a hotel room in Turkey while on vacation in 2003. His death was believed to be a suicide.

medical science

After getting a closer look at some of Donnie Hoffmans Kentucky Derby Bets, Doctors ordered an immediate CAT scan to see if there were lingering effects from the cinco de Massacre collision........Thankfullly what Doctors saw was an apparently Drunk or snoozing Hampster on the spinny wheel, which explains a lot.

rise and shine this gloriuos first saturday in May

The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home
'Tis summer, the people are gay;
The corn top's ripe and the meadow's in the bloom,
While the birds make music all the day;
The young folks roll on the little cabin floor,
All merry, all happy, and bright,
By'n by hard times comes a-knocking at the door,
Then my old Kentucky home, good night!

Chorus

Weep no more, my lady,Oh weep no more today!
We will sing one song for the old Kentucky home,
For the old Kentucky home far away.

They hunt no more for the 'possum and the coon,
On meadow, the hill and the shore,
They sing no more by the glimmer of the moon,
On the bench by that old cabin door;
The day goes by like a shadow o'er the heart,With sorrow where all was delight;
The time has come when the people have to part,
Then my old Kentucky home, good night!
Chorus

The head must bow and the back will have to bend,
Wherever the people may go;
A few more days and the trouble all will end
In the field where sugar-canes may grow;
A few more days for to tote the weary load,
No matter, 'twill never be light,
A few more days till we totter on the road,
Then my old Kentucky home, good night!

Derby Rant 2011

ok boys watch me go with brilliant speed as i toggle through this animal kingdom in search of my dear uncle mo or a derby kitten, whichever comes first. shortly after my midnight interlude i was awoken by that Master of hounds.....no not the great emperor nehro but crazy ol shackleford who lives down that the street....stay thirsty and let the cold beers comma to the top was his advice at the decisive moment. i tried to archarcharch my back to grab the beer with twice the appeal, obviously i was twinspired and when i saw the lovely cold beer i shouted soldat, now i am not a mucho macho man like santiva , but i ran to the betting window with pants on fire because i knew the winner would be

DIALED IN