Game, Set & Match

I was just reminded that Badminton is an Olympic sport as featured in the NYT yesterday. The little white "thing" struck with a racquet is called a "shuttlecock". It is made of 16 feathers plucked from the left wings of geese. A player offered that "trying to control these feathers just felt really weird." Now you can appreciate how Nancy Pelosi feels trying to corral all her "left wingers."
tjs

Word of the Year

Dictionary.com just announced the word of the year is "misinformation". This word has been with us for quite some time and did not just arrive with the internet. In the 1942 movie CASABLANCA, someone asked Bogart why he came to such a place. He replied that he came for the waters. When informed there was no water there he said "I was misinformed." What comes around goes around.
tjs

Thanks for Losing

As the college football season winds down, it is this time of year to recall an event taken place on November 28, 1942. Boston College and Holy Cross - both Jesuit institutions were Massachusetts rivals and Boston College Eagles were heavily favored to finish their season undefeated. Many of their fans and supporters had planned a victory party at a local night club. But Holy Cross pulled off an upset 55-12 and crushed the Eagles chances for the Sugar Bowl. More important, the victory party at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub was cancelled which was the night of the disastrous fire there which killed 400+ occupants. The players lives were spared and many of them went off to war.
tjs

All Alone

On Thanksgiving the NYTimes reprinted from 1978 comments from individuals on what they would do if alone on the holiday. One writer said he would walk in the woods. A woman critic said she would rack her brain(s) for a lonely, miserable person and ask if I could take him out to dinner. This was premature from my standpoint as eight years later when USL folded I found myself alone with a box lunch for Thanksgiving - lonely but not miserable. - and nary a drumstick in sight.
tjs

Begging your pardon

We will be spending Thanksgiving week in Cape May, a lovely town famous for its Bird Sanctuary where a few wild turkeys roam the streets - but this week they are in hiding. This is also the time when our Presidents would pardon Tom Turkey but the current one term apprentice leader might have a challenge on his hands. He, who has pardoned an Arizona sheriff and Scooter Libby, among others, might want to keep his distance from Big Tom. A male turkey, when excited, can attack with a six foot wingspan. On the other hand, he might say "You're FIRED!" - and consign Tom to the oven. Save me a drumstick!
tjs

There Goes the Block

In September the police broke up a prostitution ring in Brooklyn protected by seven police officers and run by sleazy landlords. Apparently, the street walkers have come inside. One of the charges is  "enterprise corruption". And one of the locations is in Park Slope, Mayor DeBlasio's former neighborhood which he still visits for his gym sessions.  Yesterday's snow created a slow news day. Sorry.
tjs

A Star is Reborn

You may recall last summer an irate and frustrated citizen took a pickax to Donald Trump's Star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Now his day of reckoning has arrived. The cost of repairs was $9400. plus probation, community labor and counseling. He said his action was a protest against the President and the G.O.P. It appeared he wanted to make California Bluer. This should draw the attention of the "Go fund me" folks.
tjs

Commuter Jargon

Commuters on the beleaguered New Jersey Transit are peppered with a variety of excuses for train delays. In the Autumn it can be slippery rails caused by steel wheels crushing leaves resulting in an oily residue affecting traction and braking. There is also an "ice patrol" that goes into the Hudson tunnels to break the icicles hanging from the overhead. Then there is the 108 year old swing bridge over the Hackensack River that occasionally gets stuck. Finally, they had been using the term "annulment" for a cancelled train which confused many. My commute had been in the other direction New York to New Jersey by road and GW bridge so I could not share those commuters' frustration.
tjs

Quotes of the Week

"Silence is God's first language. Everything else is a poor translation." - Rev. Thomas Keating, Trappist Monk.
(Rev. Keating's father Cletus Keating was a maritime lawyer and Corporate counsel for United States Lines in the glory days - )

If you like your steak, why wrap it in bacon? Anon.

"Revenge is best served cold" - Larry Sabato.

"We need more weed!" - Canadian marijuana retailer.
tjs

Riders Up!

Dateline - Churchill Downs,, Kentucky-
On the first Saturday in November, the Breeders Cup races were run. This is the end of the racing season for 2018. But a certain attendee must have thought it was the first Saturday in May when the Mint Juleps flow. A certain racing "fan", obviously imbued with the spirit of Old Grand Dad, was able to mount a horse in the paddock area, get thru the tunnel and was only reined in when he reached the track gate. Presumably this was a stable pony and not a thoroughbred as he didn't affect the mutuel betting. He was obviously interested in the improvement of the breed just as all racing fans are. Superb horsemanship!
tjs

The Port Chaplain

Father Tom W. came out of the Pennsylvania coal region and his first assignment was to an Italian parish in South Philadelphia. He was always impressed with their local customs of marching from funeral home to the church accompanied by a pick up band similar to what you find in New Orleans. He was soon transferred to another parish  near the waterfront and was assigned as Port Chaplain to minister to seamen and dockworkers still keeping his parish work.

  One snowy cold morning his phone rang at 3AM - a local young man announced that his father was sitting up in his favorite chair but seemed to be dead - could he please come over. The priest asked if the lad had notified their funeral director. He replied "I thought I would wait until daylight to do so." Father Tom then raised his voice - "You get on that phone and call your undertaker now or they will have to break your father in half with a sledge hammer." (Rigor mortis)
tjs

What Comes Around.

Carl Reiner, age 96, is urging us to vote. This comedian served in WWII in the signal Corps. They sent him to Georgetown for ten months to study French - then sent him to Hawaii. Fast forward thirty years - USL had an opening in LeHavre, France. Our Exec asked an intern if he studied  any French in school - the lad answered he had four years of Spanish. Exec said to get your ass over to Berlitz for a crash course in French. Two weeks later upon his return and no action he inquired about the billet. He was told that Carl N. was in jail in Jacksonville and he would have to replace him. Merci! I'm sure the French have a phrase for this.
tjs