I woke up for work yesterday happy to see that the Tigers beat the Mariners 9-3 to tie up the series. The “winner take all” game #5 happens Friday night.
In what I read, the bats came alive after being down 3-0. This is good to hear as some of the bats had cooled down toward the end of the season. I truly hope that they will get everything together to beat Seattle. They are playing away, so they need to strike early and often to quiet the home crowd. My fingers remain crossed.
If they can take the series on Friday, they will go on to the ALCS and play Toronto, who have already secured their spot there. They beat the Yankees 5-2. The Blue Jays haven’t been to the ALCS since 2016. I won’t lie, I am glad to see the Yankees out of it. Toronto has a good team this year and if the Tigers advance, the series will be a good one to watch. Both teams are hungry to head to the World Series.
I heard that the national announcers were poking fun at Tiger fans during the broadcast today and yesterday. There were a lot of open seats in the stadium, so they were saying a bunch of junk about it. Let’s face it, the MLB makes it pretty hard for fans when you schedule games in the middle of the day on a workday.
I know I have to let my bosses know at least a month ahead of time to take time off. I’m sure that I am not the only person who can’t just decide to take a personal day at the last minute. They really need to do better about scheduling these games later.
Welcome back to The Music of My Life, where I feature ten songs from each year of my life. In most cases, the ten songs I choose will be ones I like personally (unless I explain otherwise). The songs will be selected from Billboard’s Year-end Hot 100 Chart, Acclaimed Music, and will all be released in the featured year.
1984 was a big year for me. It was a year of change as I started high school that year. It was also the year that the Detroit Tigers won the World Series! What an amazing year!
Musically, it was the year of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Weird Al’s Eat It, and Prince had a few hits, too. As I looked over the list from ’84, there are a lot of “staple” 80’s hits from this year. Alas, not too many of those made my list. I apologize to fans of A-ha.
My first pick is one of a few songs that I could feature on my Music Movie Monday feature because it comes from a great soundtrack. Beverly Hills Cop was huge here in Michigan because Eddie Murphy plays a Detroit cop. But there is another Detroit connection as well…
According to songfacts.com: “The Heat Is On” was written for the film by Harold Faltermeyer (who also wrote Axel F for the film) and Keith Forsey, and they needed a popular artist to sing it. The Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack album was on MCA Records, which Glenn Frey recently signed with. MCA asked several of their male rock singers to audition for the lead vocal for the song. At first Frey thought this wasn’t something “rock stars” did, but he decided to go along, just for fun, never thinking they’d pick him. Harold Faltermeyer was impressed by Frey’s vocal (the instrumental tracks were already recorded) and shocked Frey by using his version. It was Frey’s biggest solo hit, reaching #2 in the US.
The other Detroit connection? Glenn Frey was born and raised in Detroit where he played in bands with names like The Mushrooms and Subterraneans before heading to Los Angeles and joining the Eagles.
The Heat Is On
I have already mentioned Thriller by Michael Jackson. Spoiler Alert: It isn’t on my list. However, you gotta admit that the video was pretty darn good, right? I mean it was all over MTV and people still copy the dance for it at weddings and such. But would you believe that it did NOT win the first-ever Video of the Year award at MTV’s Video Music Awards? So what video did?
That honor went to You Might Think by The Cars! Today a video like this would be pretty easy to make, however, the video was very advanced for the time and was one of the first to use computerized effects. Singer/guitarist Ric Ocasek’s image appeared in various animated scenes – he would show up as a fly, climbing the Empire State Building, just about anywhere to get the attention of the girl. (The object of his affection was played by model Susan Gallagher.) When the video was first aired, it was done so without the fly – because technically, the video’s effects were not done.
The song was released in February 1984, as the first single from their Heartbeat City album. “You Might Think” peaked at number seven in the United States. This is one of those videos that I always got a laugh out of. It seemed so silly to me. It was directed by Jeff Stein (who was famous for other videos). He thought The Cars were a boring live band so he used digital trickery to get around that. I think it worked.
You Might Think
The next song is the “love theme” from the movie Footloose. You may remember in one of my past posts about Footloose that Dean Pitchford not only wrote the screenplay for the movie, but he wrote all the lyrics to all the songs (some with co-writers). He wrote Almost Paradise with Eric Carmen.
The Footloose producers wanted it to be a duet. They knew that they wanted Heart’s Ann Wilson for their female voice. They contacted Wilson, and asked her for a list of preferred duet partners. Her list included Paul Rodgers and Lou Gramm, but it was Mike Reno (the lead singer for Loverboy) – not on the list – who was chosen.
They recorded the song together at a session in Chicago with Keith Olsen, who had worked on Heart’s Passionworks album and also the 1975 Fleetwood Macalbum, producing. At the time, Ann was nursing a broken wrist, but stayed off her painkillers so she wouldn’t be compromised during the session. They put their vocals down over the track that had already been recorded, then went their separate ways. She thought it was a great song, but was still surprised it was released as a single. She was even more surprised when it became a staple of proms and weddings.
That is the reason the song is on my list. I was a junior in high school and was dating a senior. She asked me to go to her prom, which was titled “Almost Paradise.” I think it was their class song, I don’t know for sure. I remember this would have been in 1987, so the song was a few years old by then. With every ticket, the student received a wine glass with the Almost Paradise logo on it. LOL – it didn’t take long for the school to stop giving away wine glasses!
Almost Paradise
Huey Lewis was a big part of my high school days! My buddy Steve and I loved cruising around and listening to Huey’s albums. This was one I loved the minute I heard it. As a lover of oldies and the Rock and Roll greats, I heard it as a “hat tip” to them and their influence on music.
In a 2013 Billboard interview, Huey said they song found its roots in Cleveland. “‘The Heart of Rock & Roll’ was written driving out of Cleveland. We’d heard that Cleveland was this great rock and roll town, and we’re from San Francisco – how can Cleveland be anything? We went to play the Agora Ballroom and had this amazing gig. On the bus out of town I was looking at the skyline of Cleveland and I said, ‘You know what boys? The heart of rock and roll really is in Cleveland. Hey, that’s a pretty good song title. Later I thought it through and went, ‘The heart of rock and roll is still beating’.The idea is that, although the music business is in New York and LA, good rock and roll is where you find it.”
Sports was one of my favorite albums back then. I had it on vinyl to play at home and on cassette to play in the car. The Heart of Rock and Roll the third of five singles from Sports, the third Huey Lewis & the News album. All of the singles were hits, and the album went on to sell over 7 million copies in America, putting the band of firm financial footing for the first time, which was very important to them – these guys were all in their 30s and had been working in music since the early ’70s.
The Heart of Rock and Roll
My dad was really involved in the local Vietnam Veteran’s chapter when I was in high school. As we got older, me and some of the guys would go up to their events. They often had cook outs, holiday dances, and fund raisers. I met so many great people at these events and came to love hanging out with them. My dad would spin records for the group.
Along with many oldies he would play songs like “Some Gave All,” “Goodnight, Saigon,” and “The Ballad of the Green Berets.” But it was always at the end of the night that my dad would play God Bless the USA. The first time I witnessed this, I choked up. Everyone in the building gathered on the dance floor and held hands. They would sing this song at the top of their lungs and raise their hands in the air. It was truly moving.
This song holds a special place in my heart for those friends.
God Bless The U.S.A.
The videos of many songs will forever be what I think of when I hear them. We’re Not Gonna Take It is a great example. I remember thinking it was cool that “the guy who played Niedermeyer in Animal House” was the dad in this video!
According to Dee Snider, he started writing this song in 1980, two years before Twisted Sister released their first album, Under the Blade. He had the hook, but couldn’t come up with a verse melody. After Def Leppard released their Pyromania album in 1983, Snider came up with a plan. “In studying some of Mutt Lange’s work with Def Leppard, I saw that a number of their songs were using variations on the chorus as a verse. That gave me the information I needed to come up with the rest of ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It.'”
Songfacts.com perfectly describes the song this way: “This is the mighty anthem for anyone lashing out at an authority figure and ready to put up a fight. The song is short on specifics, so it can apply to just about any situation where “we” are battling “the powers that be.” This all-purpose approach was intentional and gave the song a timeless quality.“
We’re Not Gonna Take It
When I first moved to Mid-Michigan, I discovered that there was a local hockey team. The Flint Generals played in a sports arena that held like 3000 people. There wasn’t a bad seat in the place. I loved being able to see these guys slam up against the glass. It was great!!
When the Generals disbanded, the public hoped for hockey to continue. They would up bringing in a hockey team that was made up of college aged kids and the team was called The Michigan Warriors.
The hockey was a bit less violent, but it was still hockey. I always loved a night out at the games. When they would introduce the members of the team (and at the end of each game) they always played Scandal’s The Warrior.
The Warrior
The next song is one that I always liked because the hook is catchy and it had a cool sax part. Sadly, it is also the subject of one of the biggest flubs I ever did on the air.
Released in August of 1984, “Smooth Operator” was the breakout hit in America for Sade, who were based in England. Their debut album, Diamond Life, was first issued in 1984 in the UK, where “Smooth Operator” was the third charting single. In the US, the album was released in 1985, with “Hang On To Your Love” as the first single. It went nowhere, but the next single, “Smooth Operator,” rose to #5 and earned the group a reputation as an exotic soulful act with a captivating frontwoman.
One night I was working at WMXD and I came out of the song and realized that I had never known who sang it. I looked at the music log and read, “Sade.” So that’s what I called her – “Sade” (Say-d). The phones lit up and people were either making fun of me or asking why I was playing songs when I couldn’t even pronounce the name of the artist! I was embarrassed. I had no idea until I pulled the CD out of the player and saw the writing ….
What a dope!!
Smooth Operator
Sea of Love was a song that I heard often on the oldies station. Phil Phillips had recorded it in 1959 and it was a top 5 hit. The song was covered by Robert Plant’s Honeydrippers in 1984. They truly were a rock and roll supergroup – Robert Plant, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Paul Schaffer, Nile Rogers and other greats appeared in the group.
They only released one EP, The Honeydrippers: Volume One. Sea of Love took their remake all the way up to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. I love the orchestration of this version so much. The EP is worth a listen – Rockin’ At Midnight would go to #25. The success of the songs led Plant to say that a full album would be released, but it never came to be.
Sea of Love
My final pick is one that is really embarrassing. So why is it here? Because the minute I saw it as a released single, the chorus became an ear worm and stuck in my head. If I have to walk around singing it over and over, you may as well, too!
My 14 year old self loved novelty records. I had Spike Jones, Weird Al, and many more in my collection. When I first heard this “rap” song, I laughed like hell. When I ran to the store to get the single, I remember thinking how cool it was that I got the 12 inch vinyl record. It had the single, an extended mix, and on the B-side an instrumental.
As I listened to this before adding it officially to my list, I thought, “What in the world did I like about this song?! It really is kinda dumb.” At the same time, all these years later, there are still people I know who will break into a chorus of “Duh Ha, Duh Ha! Duh Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha..”
Yep, that gives it away. I was a fan of the Rappin’ Duke by Shawn Brown. Do I really need to go into any history on this one? Probably not. Forgive me for the earworm….
Rappin’ Duke
Next week I’ll take a look at 1985 and how some of those songs connect to my life. Movie music will be in there for sure, a tribute to some legends, the first slow song I remember dancing to, and maybe a song I have featured once before on this blog. See you next week!
To say this weekend was not a hectic one would be a lie. In all honesty, the entire month has been busy for Sam and me. Sam has been running back and forth to various doc appointments and helmet appointments, plus helping her folks out with her sister. Both of us are running on little to no sleep. How we are making in through our nights at work and our days at home, I really have no idea.
Sam was up early on Saturday. I cam home and slept about 3 hours before having to get up and get my son. I picked him up at his mom’s house and then we drove to Sam’s parents’ house. She was there with Ella and Andrew helping out with her sister. I picked up Ella and came back home.
It was beautiful on Saturday! There was a lot of sunshine and it was close to 80 degrees. Ella wanted to play outside, so she ran around the yard playing with her toys as Dimitri and I worked on a couple projects. The biggest project was the swing set that Sam bought for the kids. It took about 3 hours to put together and I was pretty impressed with it.
Back in the day, I remember my dad having to dig or drill holes for the swing set poles to set into. Then he’d have to pour cement in them and it had to dry before we could use it. This set was neat. It had “shoes” that went on the bottom of each leg. There was a stake that you “screwed” into the ground and then you bolted the shoe to the stake. That thing is solid, let me tell you! I was pretty impressed.
Ella loves going to the park and swinging on the swings and Andrew had never been on one. We ordered a toddler swing to go put on it (it came with one) so both kids could swing at the same time. They absolutely loved it!!
The kids got to swing for a bit and then we went in and had dinner. We all went to bed early, because we were all wiped out.
Sam had to work Sunday, so she was up for a bit and then went back to try to get some sleep. So I decided to take the kids for a walk before it rained. Ella wanted to take her baby doll for a walk too. So I loaded up Andrew in the double stroller and she grabbed her baby doll and we walked the neighborhood.
What made me really smile was to see the people who were passing by in cars looking at Ella, waving at her and smiling. It was awesome. She really enjoyed being able to walk her baby. After we got home, we played outside for a while. Andrew was so interested in everything. He loved just playing around on the blanket out on the lawn.
I had planned on Dimitri staying until the evening, but I guess he had some dinner to go to. So Dante’ came to pick him up and take him to the dinner. Dante’ is working a lot and going to college, so it is rare for me to see them both together. Even though it was just for a few minutes, it was nice to have them both there. I had to fight them to get them to pose for a picture!
Dimitri helped me put the swing set together and also helped me take down the remainder of the Christmas lights. Yes, I know, it is almost May! That should tell you just how crazy life has been our way. On the days I wanted to get out and do it, it was either freezing, raining, and most recently – snowing! I’m glad they are finally down!
He also helped me move some furniture around. Andrew is having some separation issues. It has been a challenge to do anything without him attached to us. If we are not in the same room with him, he loses it. He’s never really slept well if it isn’t in our arms or in our bed. So we moved the crib to our bedroom, got him his own sound machine, and hoped that he’d start sleeping in it.
Yep. That’s his crib … at the end of our bed! I’m really hoping that he gets into that crib sooner than later. Sam and I would welcome a night of sleep without getting a helmet to the head or kicks in the stomach.
Finally, some big news that is NOT family related…
As a life long Detroit Tiger Fan, it was very cool to hear that Miguel Cabrera joined an elite club on Saturday. He got his 3000th hit! Miggy has certainly made baseball fun to watch here in Michigan. Now, we just need to get back to the World Series – and win it! Congrats, Miggy!!
Hello readers. I hope this finds you safe and healthy. This is, yet again, another blog that is full of random thoughts in no particular order.
Baseball
My home team, The Detroit Tigers, have not been much to watch in the past. I guess I was spoiled in that I got to watch the magical year of 1984 and a World Series Crown. Since then, they have struggled. “We are rebuilding” has been what us fans have been told for years! In 2006 we went to the World Series and lost. So, in 30+ years, we really haven’t had much to cheer about.
Despite that fact, I really miss baseball. Today in my Facebook memories, a picture popped up that I posted two years ago. The picture is the view of the baseball diamond that is literally behind our house. “One of the things I love about our house is that I can walk out on the porch and catch a good ball game all spring and summer long,” is the caption. Sigh. Not this year. Even the neighbor kids aren’t out playing ball.
I have mentioned in the past that my favorite Tiger from the 1984 team was Aurelio Lopez. Senor Smoke, they called him. There was something about his pitching style that I liked. As a 14 year old kid, I used to pretend I was him. When I was with my dad, or my buddies from school. We’d pitch to each other calling balls and strikes. When I was alone, I had a square I drew on the side of my house that represented the “strike zone,” I used to throw the ball at. There used to be a square spray painted on the wall of our elementary school, and you could stand in the parking lot and throw tennis balls at it – calling your own strikes.
I miss hearing baseball on the radio. I miss watching it on TV. There is some talk about teams being allowed to play without people in the stands. While it would certainly be weird to just hear the sound of a ball coming off the bat, I would miss the sound of the crowd cheering for a home run. At this point, however, I would welcome baseball in any form.
The Boys
After my self quarantine of over two weeks, I was able to pick up my sons. They will be staying with me for a little over a week. Despite having seeing them briefly when I took my oldest’s birthday gift to him, and their short visit in my driveway, I felt like I hadn’t seen them at all! Sure, video chats helped, but to actually be with them and give them a hug means so much.
My youngest still has school work that he is doing online and will continue to do through the end of the school year. Because he is a senior, my oldest had the choice of continuing with the final marking period or taking the grades he had when all this Covid stuff came down. He had excellent grades, so he chose the latter and is officially done with school. We’re still waiting to see about graduation and stuff. We haven’t booked a place for his graduation party yet, because we just don’t know when we’ll be able to hold it!
We were able to celebrate my son’s 18th birthday here. We made a cake and sang Happy Birthday. Choices were limited, but we told him he could chose what he wanted for his birthday dinner. He chose pizza (no surprise). It was nice to be able to do that.
They are always on their devices. They have an Xbox, a Wii U, a Nintendo Switch, and countless games on their cell phones. I am trying to get them away from that stuff, but with the cold weather, it hasn’t been easy. At least today it is supposed to be in the 50’s and we can get outside to play catch or take a walk.
Recently, I taught my youngest how to play chess. It is not my favorite game to play, mainly because I suck at it. I decided that I was going to teach him cribbage. My grandpa taught me how to play when I was about 9 years old. We played the game open handed (where you could see each other’s cards) and I walked him through things. He beat me, and I am hoping to play a few more games while he is here. I am also hoping to get my oldest to play, too. It is ALWAYS nice to have something to do when there is a power outage, or when you are bored.
In preparation for the boys, I made sure to put clean sheets on their beds, and straightened up their room. While I was in there, I raised the blind on the window to let the natural light in. We have a huge tree that is outside their window. The birds were driving Maizey crazy flying back and forth. She sat like this meowing and jumping at the window for about 5 hours!
I remember a time when parents put their kids to bed and then stayed up and watched TV before going to bed themselves. However, it’s been the opposite here. Sam and I are ready for bed by 10 and last night they were still up at 3:30am!!! What is up with that?!?
Layoffs
As stated in previous blogs, I am off work on doctor’s orders. While I am here recovering, I have been lucky enough to spend it with family. I have been praying for my co-workers and others who are still working at the hospital. The labor pools at hospital continued to grow because of ambulatory sites being closed, and those workers being put in the pool. This meant less hours for those working. To make matters worse, this week hospitals in the state announced massive layoffs and cuts. Some positions were completely eliminated!
Many of the layoffs are temporary and employees can take advantage of unemployment benefits (while keeping their health care benefits). If I am being honest, I wish that this had been an option from the beginning for many of us. It would have been much less stressful (and safer) for people. I know I would have opted to just be home with family, instead of having to go through a the mental breakdown I had to be home.
I continue to pray for my friends who are still right there in the thick of things. I continue to pray for the many healthcare workers across the state, and throughout the country, who are doing what they can to save lives – while trying to stay safe themselves. I just want life to be back to normal. I want to go and do the job I was trained to do. I’m just not sure when that will happen and if I can even do that!
Skinny Me
I was out in the garage this week looking through a few boxes. I was looking for some notes from some classes I took years ago (more on that in an upcoming blog). I stumbled on something that I had totally forgotten about – an old magazine I was in.
Mobile Beat Magazine is still around and it is mainly for mobile DJs. I used to get it when I was DJing more. It had great ideas regarding set ups, equipment, contracts, etc… It also put out a top 200 list every year of the most requested songs from that past year. I still look at it when I do get out to DJ (which is rarely ever now). This particular issue did a story about mobile DJ’s who were also radio DJ’s. I was interviewed and I was one of those featured in the article. My ugly mug even made it in the magazine!
It is funny to see this picture.
I am about 100 pounds heavier now.
The glasses are gone thanks to Lasik surgery.
The hair is gone because of …. natural causes.
The station is gone, because of typical radio politics.
The shirt I am wearing was given to me by my buddy Tim, who is now working in major market radio on a morning show. He and some buddies (Doug and Phil) used to have this set up in their basement where they “played radio.” In all honesty, the stuff they did was better than the stuff you hear on many radio stations today. They would make tapes and I loved them. They called it “Fake Radio” and had me voice some liners for it. Making those up were a blast. I loved that shirt and was sad when it finally was so tattered that I couldn’t wear it anymore!
Ella
My baby girl continues to be a source of happiness. It is amazing how much she has grown in just 10 weeks. She is “talking” so much! I could listen to “baby babble” all day! I love how she smiles at me when I talk to her. There is NO better feeling. While putting clothes away this week, my wife slipped on the tutu and bow my friend Margaret had sent. She slipped it on over her PJs and it looked great. Looking at her, I can totally see her wearing something like this for dance classes.
I am so guilty of taking a million pictures of her. I will totally be “THAT” dad who will drive her crazy with my camera! “Dad! Enough with the pictures!” I will sit and go through the pictures and claim a “favorite,” only to go through them another day and claim another as “my favorite!” My latest “favorite” is this one:
I love this little girl SO much.
I love my children SO much. Blessings – each and every one of them!
All writers get writer’s block. I am hardly a “writer”, but sometimes stare at the blank page and wonder what to write about. Since I began blogging, I have stumbled on blogs written by others who share some of the same interests as me. I have followed blogs that feature movies, TV, music, nostalgia, positive thoughts & quotes, and more. There have been many instances where I read another blog and an idea will pop into my head. My friend Max and I tend to “borrow” ideas from each other often.
Many ideas I adapt from those blogs. For this blog I am literally stealing the idea, and giving credit, and creating some rules for it. The Anxious Teacher wrote a blog after watching Back to the Future III. You can read it here:
What a great idea for a blog! If you had a time machine – where would you travel? As I thought about this, I wanted to limit myself to a few things. First of all, because I have watched the Back to the Future movies, I know that if you go back and change something in the past – it will affect the future. So Limit #1: If I go back, I am simply there to observe. Many of the things I thought I would like to go back and witness happened over a period of time, so Limit #2 – no real time limit. Limit #3 – wherever I go, I will be dressed appropriately as to not raise suspicion. I know, it’s silly, but it’s my blog and my rules.
I actually thought about adding what I would call the “Ebenezer Scrooge” element to this. What is that? Well, remember when Scrooge was transported into the past, present & future? He could witness everything, but he could not interact with anyone. Those events happened and the people were not aware he was even there. Perhaps that would be the best thing, right? That way, if I went back in time, I would not be tempted to change things.
General times and places
As my blogger friend said, I think it would be very cool to visit the old west. I have watched many westerns on TV and in the movies. I have read many books set in the old west. I think it would be pretty cool to walk through one of those western towns. How cool would it be to visit the saloons, or the general store? I think it would be cool to don a cool cowboy hat, boots & spurs and ride a horse to get from place to place.
I also think it would be cool to visit the ancient times and watch the building of the pyramids, or buildings like the coliseum. Those historic buildings are still standing. How awesome would it be to see just how they put them together?
As someone who has been a huge fan of the 1950’s, I would love to live a year or two in this decade. It’s fun to see how the ’50s are portrayed in movies like Back to the Future, and I would love to see it in person. I would love to hear the old radio stations playing those early rock and roll songs. I would love to see those classic films in a theater. I would love to have a meal at a real 50’s diner or drive a classic car!
I would love to visit the 1940’s, too! The music of the great band leaders, the early music of Sinatra, and of course, those great old radio shows! Of course, World War II was going on, but it would be interesting to see how life in America was at that time.
Everyone wants to visit the future … that peaks my interest, but is it something I would do? I don’t know. I’d be tempted to come back to the present and use the information for personal gain, or to alter outcomes. I’m not sure visiting the future would be something I’d want to do – unless I knew it was something specific I wouldn’t be able to see.
General People of Interest
I would love to watch Beethoven or Bach (or any composer, really) writing and composing a piece of their music.
I would love to watch someone like Edgar Allen Poe or William Shakespeare writing a poem or story.
I would love to sit on a set and watch them shooting a Three Stooges or Laurel and Hardy film.
I would love to be in the room where the First Continental Congress held meetings and watch men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and others in action.
I would love to attend a taping of an old episode of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson or a taping of the Dean Martin Show.
I would love to be in the audience at a Rat Pack show in Chicago or Las Vegas. Come on! Dean, Frank and Sammy!!
I would love to be an extra in one of my favorite movies.
I would love to watch Elvis in the recording studio.
I would love to watch Thomas Edison working on the phonograph or the electric light.
Specific Events
I would love to watch the moon landing (on TV or from space).
I would love to watch the first flight with the Wright Brothers.
I would love to see JFK’s inauguration.
I would love to see a Beatles concert.
I would love to see Lincoln deliver his Gettysburg Address.
I would love to witness the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I would love to witness the launch of Titanic on her maiden voyage.
I would love to be in the stands at Tiger Stadium at the final game of the 1984 World Series.
I would love to be in the crowd at 1985’s Live Aid concert.
Personal Things
I know I put some limits on what can or cannot happen if I went back in time, but if there were no limits there are a few things I would like to do with that time machine.
I would love one more conversation with my mom.
I would love one more pinochle game with grandma and grandpa.
I would love one more Christmas Eve with grandma and grandpa.
I would love one more radio show with Rob.
I would love one more cribbage game with my grandpa.
I would love to play my trumpet in one more high school band concert.
Just One Day
For whatever reason, writing this blog made me think of the Nat King Cole song, “That Sunday, That Summer”. The lyrics of the song say:
“If I had to chose just one day, to last my whole life through, it would surely be that Sunday, the day that I met you.”
With a time machine, you could go back to one day. You could pick the day. You could relive whatever happened that day. What day would that be?
I don’t know that I could pick just one.
What I do know is that there are plenty of days that I am looking forward to that haven’t happened yet – the birth of my daughter, the graduations of my sons, etc…. I am perfectly content moving forward and experiencing the days to come.
Here is sit, remembering the past – loving the present – and looking forward to the future.
I am on vacation. We decided to take a little trip down to Florida. We built our vacation around the fact that the Detroit Tigers are playing spring training games. Today we headed over to Joker Merchant stadium to see the boys of summer take on the New York Yankees.
Spring training is an exciting time. We get to see a brand new team. We see many young guys hoping to make it to the roster for the regular season. Some will make it, some will not. In the air excitement for the season ahead.
One thing is for sure, the rich history of the Detroit Tigers is alive and well. In the store, there were T-shirts with Alan Trammell’s name on the back, others had Al Kaline’s, and more had Willie Horton’s. Famous Tigers of the past were on banners hanging from the ceilings. The fans in the stands also had names from the past, too. I gotta admit, it was awesome to see someone wearing a jersey with Sparky Anderson’s name and number on it.
Next to me a guy was talking about how hard it is to listen to the games on the radio because the late Ernie Harwell is not around to do them. He also was talking about how great the games were to watch and hear George Kell and Al Kaline do the play by play. I remember listening to the Opening Day game in 1984. Who knew that those guys were on their way to winning the World Series?!
This is the first spring training game I have ever been to. The rain got us a couple of times and they walked away with a win. I don’t recall how they did in spring training in 1984, but I am sure that those fans who attended those “grapefruit league” games had that same hope that I had today. I hope that a World Series Championship is ours at the end of the season. I ran into a Yankees fan in line to get something to drink and he said, “Looks like you got a good team this year.” I told him I heard the same about the Yankees. He said, “I hope it’s the year for one of us.” I agreed.
The 1984 Tigers were a well oiled machine! Nobody could pull double plays like Trammell and Sweet Lou Whitaker. The pitching staff was one of a kind! Jack Morris, Dan Petry, Milt Wilcox, and Dave Rozema were tremendous starters and Aurelio Lopez, Juan Berenguer, and Willie Hernandez were bullpen aces! Lance Parrish, Kirk Gibson, Darrell Evens, Larry Herndon, Chet Lemon, and Tommy Brookens were household names! What a team!!!
Watching the game today, we were a few feet away from first base. Watching Miguel Cabrera joke with Yankee players on base, the umps, and his team mates only made me like him more. One can only hope that he will have another great year full of home runs, and key plays. There were a lot of names I did not recognize, and who knows, maybe they will be household names, after the season is done. I hope so.
A Tiger fan for life, in good seasons and bad, I hope this is THE year for the next World Series Championship. Good luck, boys! You looked good today.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 