He Knew He Was Right

It's still the first half of February. Pitchers and catchers are just showing up in Tampa. But, what a time it is for New York sports... The Giants win the Super Bowl for the fourth time. The Rangers are in first place. The Knicks...yes, the Knicks...are rolling. Eli for Big Blue. King Henrik for the Rangers. And now Lin for the Knicks. Baseball can wait. There's a lot of good things happening at MSG, and in New York sports in general, right now... - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

CCR may have been my first favorite rock band. Growing up, I can still remember the records that would rotate at family dinners throughout the seasons and years. Cosmos Factory was a favorite, with my Mom particularly fond of Ramble Tamble. And, what is not to like about that! Appreciation of CCR stayed with me, and I eventually bought all their albums myself, still owning them on CD. Anyway, I don't want to go off on too much of a tangent here, and will simply segue to this song that I can't get out of my head for the last month or so... Perhaps one of their lesser known songs, the "Feelin' blue, blue, blue, blue, blue" chorus just won't leave my head. And I don't want it to leave any time soon. I'm feelin' blue in the best of possible ways. Congrats to the New York Giants on their fourth Super Bowl Championship. Outstanding!! Maybe I have one more football post in me for this season, but, if not, what better way to end it than a Super Bo...

Ok, I've been posting on the Wednesday or Thursday before each of the Giants playoff games, and they've won. I grew hip to this trend before the Championship game, and they squeaked out the win. No way will a Big Blue loss be attributable to my not doing my part now. So, here goes nothing.... That last game really was something else, eh? I was lucky enough to watch it in a great sports bar in Stowe, VT--the Sunset Grille and Tap Room. We spent seven or so hours there, ate two meals, and, well, enjoyed some pints of Switchback Ale. Enjoyed them we did through the AFC battle, and then through about the first half of the NFC game. By then, the nature of the latter game was clear--a tough battle with momentum swinging back and forth. I get nervous watching these games, and this game was no exception. Afraid to watch the TV at some points, I just stared at the mostly consumed dinner that remained on the plate in front of me. Nerves aside, it was a fun atmosphere. Stowe is nicel...

At the start of his career, he was the second best catcher on the Yankees. For a few years after that, he was the second best catcher in New York. But, there is no denying Jorge Posada was a very essential part of the Yankees' success for so many years. That switch hitting bat of his lived in the middle of an always potent Yankee lineup, and created pitching matchup problems for the opponent. Despite some ups and downs with the press as his career slowed down, he always has seemed so worthy of our respect and admiration. Some will argue that he is a Hall of Famer, others will argue the opposite. Maybe he does have too few hits to cement his legacy. Perhaps that double off Pedro in the 2003 playoffs was his grandest hit, and even that was eclipsed by what Boone did to end that series. As he says here, however, he "did come out to play everyday", and for a catcher, that's no small feat. We'll miss you, Jorge. Your browser does not support iframes. and Your br...

I'm rather surprised to have so few pictures of my first new car, a 1990 Chevy Beretta GTZ. It mostly predates my interest in photography, and the only pictures I have with it were shot with a little Ricoh point and shoot. But still, I have so few of it. That car got me to football games in the midwest in 1990, to ballgames in Boston and Baltimore in the spring of 1991, and then to a bunch of games in September of 1991, when I spent the middle days between weekend midwest ballpark and stadium visits on a sojourn to South Dakota. Here is my best picture of it, taken in Badlands National Park... Wait, let me make it pop out a little more... That's better. The day before, she had topped 100 MPH for the second time. It was a great trip in so many ways. Little did I know that my car would be declared a total loss a few months later. Without warning, my deep red Beretta GTZ spewed orange–red flames into a rainy grey January evening. I was returning from the DMV of al...

For the past few weeks, I've done a post about the Giants, and they've won the next Sunday. Now, there may be plenty of reasons for Big Blue to lose, but let it go on record that HKHWR is doing his part to keep this nice run going. Not boastful in either of the first two rounds, I am certainly not going to change my tone here. I will note that I like the way the Giants are playing on all three sides of the ball--offense, defense and special teams. A wise coach from a division rival once said you had to win two out of three to win, and the Giants don't look overmatched in any of them. For most of the season, I had thought the Giants special teams were average at best. They're certainly not an elite group, but they are playing more competently than they have all season. I am very happy happy with the way the offense is going. The running and passing games are both solid. The two-back rotation does take a quarter or so to start moving, but they seem to get stronger a...

When the Giants built that momentum that got them to the playoffs at the end of the 2007 season, their first opponent was the Bucaneers. I remember thinking that the Giants could totally win that game if they played as they did the week before against the undefeated Patriots. And they did. Their next opponent was the dreaded Cowboys. I remember thinking that game could go either way. The Cowboys looked good going into the playoffs, and I wouldn't have been shocked at all if they won, but I thought Big Blue could do it. And they did. Then there was that little game against Green Bay. Lambeau Field. The Frozen Tundra. Manning, a QB who had never played in weather like that, and ditto for many on the team, who I thought tipped their hand about the frigid temperatures presenting a problem. I recalled that the Bucs, who had never won a game when the temperature was below 40 at kickoff, had in a recent season knocked off GB up there, but I simply didn't give the Giants a chance. ...