Sportsball

I'm writing this right after another loss by the Syracuse University men's basketball team, so, y'know...ouch. I'm hurting here.

Many of my music-fan and/or comics-fan friends are not sports fans. Some of them are actively disdainful of sports, which is their right. But I tell ya, I love SU basketball almost as much as I love my superhero comic books and my loud 'n' jangly rockin' pop music. I am as Otto made me.

Otto the Orange

It wasn't always so. Although I developed a keen interest in baseball when I was about ten years old, that interest didn't really last into college. I retained a residual wisp of support for my preferred team the New York Yankees, but it was more like the nostalgic aura of warmth you might feel for a former best friend with whom you no longer have anything in common, whom you've outgrown. I got caught up in the excitement of the 1977 World Series, watching in my freshman dorm as Reggie Jackson earned his nickname as Mr. October. I didn't follow the team again for decades thereafter.



Growing up, I did enjoy playing a few sports, even though I was spectacularly unspectacular at everything. I played Little League baseball, plus pickup baseball, softball, and whiffleball every chance I got. I played backyard football. I played hockey on the frozen pond behind some houses up the street. My friend across the road had a basketball hoop on his garage, and I played HORSE--very badly. Does croquet count? I played that, too. Howzabout hide 'n' seek?

Both my Dad and my brother Rob tried to help me get better...or at least get adequate. Dad coached my Little League team, and later said that he couldn't fault my effort; I practiced and practiced, and I got so I could hit a little bit, catch a tiny bit, but I could not throw the ball to save my life. Rob did teach me how to throw a football, and later on my other brother Art took me to the gym a few times for weight-lifting, trying to get me to consider going out for the high school football team. That was never going to happen in any known universe.

I hated gym class, but did enjoy a few of the sports played in that setting. I loved playing volleyball, and not just because it was co-ed, and there was a really, really cute girl in my class who favored wearing cutoff shorts. Okay, maybe that was the reason I liked volleyball, but I enjoyed the game, too.

For dramatic purposes, the role of my high school volleyball classmate will be played by Debbie Harry

In college, I played intramural (and occasionally slightly inebriated) broomball and floor hockey without distinction. Let's face it, I sucked. I did a little bit better in softball games with my team of McDonald's co-workers. But I still couldn't throw.

Beyond my youthful passion for the Yankees and our local AAA team the Syracuse Chiefs, I had virtually no interest in spectator sports. My sister Denise dragged me to one high school football game in the '70s, and I attended a basketball game to (sort of) cheer on a team made up of my Roxboro Road Middle School teachers. Art took me to at least one Syracuse Blazers hockey game (which I liked), and I saw one soccer game (Syracuse Suns or Syracuse Scorpions--I forget what they were called at the time). 



Living in Buffalo in the '80s, I was appalled when the local TV station pre-empted the national news in favor of a press conference with newly-signed Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly. It's just SPORTS, people! But I eventually became a casual Bills fan, rooting for them from afar as I moved back to Syracuse by the decade's end. I don't follow them closely, but it's understood that I'll take a night off from my Sunday night commitment to This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio when the Bills make it back to the Super Bowl.

Yeah. No worry about that this year.

When my wife Brenda and I moved permanently to Syracuse in 1987, the move coincided with the SU men's basketball team's run to the Final Four. The Syracuse community's pride in its college team was infectious, and we found ourselves fully invested and ultimately heartbroken when SU lost to Kansas in the final seconds of the championship game. Curse you, Keith Smart!

2003!!

For all that, though, I didn't really become a basketball fan until 2003, when SU's thrilling season culminated in a national championship. After that, as the 2003-2004 season commenced, I found myself surreptitiously checking the team's progress, hiding my burgeoning hoops fever as if I were ashamed of it. I finally felt compelled to confess that I had indeed become a basketball fan. Brenda joked that it was my version of a mid-life crisis at the age of 44: no sports car, no mistress, but a sudden dyed-in-the-wool passion for college basketball. Syracuse college basketball.

Over time, I also became interested in SU football. I watch those games whenever I can. It's been a rough recent stretch for the teams I support. My semi-estranged former flames the Yankees didn't make it as far as I woulda preferred. The SU football team underperformed this season. The Buffalo Bills folded like origami in the playoffs. And my favorites, the Syracuse University men's basketball team, are off to a frustrating start that inspires very little confidence as the heart of conference play looms.

But they're still my teams. All of 'em. The Yankees, the Bills, Orange football, Orange basketball. I'll keep cheering them on, win or lose. That's what fans do. No one has to be a fan of anything, whether it's Batman or The Beatles or SU hoops coach Jim Boeheim. I choose to be a fan. When I get discouraged, well, there's always the next game. If the season doesn't work out, there's always next year. 

I'll be here. I still can't throw worth a damn, but I'll be here to watch those who can. Let's go, Orange, let's go.



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Fans of pop music will want to check out Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, a new pop compilation benefiting SPARK! Syracuse, the home of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. TIR'N'RR Allstars--Steve Stoeckel, Bruce Gordon, Joel Tinnel, Stacy Carson, Eytan Mirsky, Teresa Cowles, Dan Pavelich, Irene Peña, Keith Klingensmith, and Rich Firestone--offer a fantastic new version of The Kinks' classic "Waterloo Sunset." That's supplemented by eleven more tracks (plus a hidden bonus track), including previously-unreleased gems from The Click Beetles, Eytan Mirsky, Pop Co-Op, Irene Peña, Michael Slawter (covering The Posies), and The Anderson Council (covering XTC), a new remix of "Infinite Soul" by The Grip Weeds, and familiar TIRnRR Fave Raves by Vegas With Randolph, Gretchen's Wheel, The Armoires, and Pacific Soul Ltd. Oh, and that mystery bonus track? It's exquisite. You need this. You're buying the digital download from from Futureman, and/or the CD from Kool Kat Musik.

(And you can still get our 2017 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4, on CD from Kool Kat Musik and as a download from Futureman Records.)

Get MORE Carl! Check out the fourth and latest issue of the mighty Big Stir magazine at bigstirrecords.com/magazine

Hey, Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 100 essays (and then some) about 100 tracks, plus two bonus instrumentals, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1).

Past Christmas Presents

The little drummer boy's kit was a gift from the intrepid Dave Murray. The menorah was there first.

I mentioned yesterday that Captain Action and his superheroic accessories were my favorite among the many Christmas gifts I received when I was a kid. Here's a gallery of a few other Christmas gifts I recall.



I don't really remember anything about this Green Ghost board game except the glow-in-the-dark ghost spinner and the spooky tree. I couldn't even tell you if the game itself was any fun, but I know it's something I wanted. I think I also received my beloved Creepy Crawlers at Christmas, as well as my Motorific racing set. Was my rocking horse Meatball also a Christmas gift? Coulda been. I was a lucky little kid at Christmas, and I'm not entirely certain my presumed good behavior was the reason.



Given my well-known love of superhero comics, you may be surprised to hear that I rarely received comic books for Christmas.  This 1969 issue of the reprint title Marvel Super-Heroes (cover-dated March 1970) is the only regular color comic book  I remember getting from Santa and/or his emissaries. I also remember I discovered the book a little early, in a paper bag leaning against the wall. I wasn't even snooping for it, but my Mom was pissed!



I became an avid fan of superpulp paperbacks when I was a teenager, and that love started with my first Doc Savage novel, The Land Of Terror. One Christmas, my parents indulged that interest with a whole box of Doc Savage paperbacks.



One year, my entire holiday wish list came from The Captain Company, the mail-order arm of Warren Publishing. My Captain Company score included some black-and-white reprints of Will Eisner's The Spirit, a gorgeous jigsaw puzzle depicting a cover from a vintage issue of The Shadow, and an LP with two episodes of The Shadow radio show. Santa Claus may know the definitive demarcations between naughty and nice, but when it comes down to who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!



I may have received this issue of Vampirella the same year I received the Doc Savage books. I do remember my Aunt Helen raising her eyebrows at the cover image, and my Mom kinda shrugging as if to say, Boys--what are ya gonna do?




After listening to my older siblings' copies of a few of The Beatles' LPs, these were probably the first two I could call my own. Yeah (yeah yeah), I started simultaneously at the beginning and the end of The Beatles' discography, and worked my way in. I received them both in, I think, 1975. More would follow.



The Christmas of 1976 was all about the albums for me. I think I received my copy of Raspberries' Best that year, as well as The Best Of The Animals and The Beatles Featuring Tony Sheridan. This 2-LP British Invasion collection ultimately had the most impact--which is an impressive thing to say if you consider how important The Raspberries were to me! But I already knew The Raspberries; that's why I asked for their greatest hits set to begin with. I wanted to find out more about the British Invasion, and History Of British Rock Vol. 2 offered a really good Beyond The Beatles introductory tutorial. Above all else, though, it looms large in my legend for sparking my interest in a little band called THE KINKS!!



Christmas 1977 concluded the fall semester of my freshman year in college. I loved The Sex Pistols; my girlfriend hated them, but she loved me, so she gave me their debut (and only) album for Christmas. Thanks, Theresa--sorry for breaking up with you by mail two weeks later. (I really wish I'd handled that better.) The KISS album was a gift from my parents, and my main interest in it was the lads' studio cover of The Dave Clark Five's "Any Way You Want It."



Christmas '78? I think so. My brother Rob gave me this collection of The Eagles' biggest hits. My attempt at a poker face was inept and ineffectual, so Rob realized immediately that I wasn't really a fan of The Eagles. Hated 'em, actually. He teases me about it to this day. I felt like an ingrate, but I also didn't want to lie (which, really, would have been the more polite and appropriate thing to do). Happy ending though! I took the album, sans receipt, to a department store, and exchanged it for a record I did want: Something/Anything?, a double-album by Todd Rundgren. I'd been yearning for that one since Todd's performance of "Couldn't I Just Tell You" on The Mike Douglas Show had prompted my jaw to drop and my heart to sing. I am very grateful.





I met my future wife Brenda at college in October of 1978. The first Christmas gift she gave me was a tan and gold disco shirt, which I loved and wore often. The first record she gave me was Armed Forces by Elvis Costello & the Attractions for my birthday. She has given me many, many gifts since then, and these are but a handful of the Christmas swag I received from Brenda. We hope to continue for many more Christmases to come.



Our daughter Meghan graduated Summa Cum Laude from Ithaca College this past May. Last Christmas, she gave me this t-shirt to display my Bomber Pride. Proud? Yes. Yes I am.

This Christmas was determinedly low-key, as we've all found ourselves fighting colds and seasonal frailties, and dealing with y'know...stuff.  Man, stuff'll get ya every time. But we're still here. And family is still the greatest gift I could ever receive.

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You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby! 

Our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 is now available from Kool Kat Musik! 29 tracks of irresistible rockin' pop, starring Pop Co-Op, Ray Paul, Circe Link & Christian Nesmith, Vegas With Randolph Featuring Lannie Flowers, The Slapbacks, P. Hux, Irene Peña, Michael Oliver & the Sacred Band Featuring Dave Merritt, The Rubinoos, Stepford Knives, The Grip Weeds, Popdudes, Ronnie Dark, The Flashcubes,Chris von Sneidern, The Bottle Kids, 1.4.5., The Smithereens, Paul Collins' Beat, The Hit Squad, The Rulers, The Legal Matters, Maura & the Bright Lights, Lisa Mychols, and Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers. You gotta have it, so order it here.

Syracuse Versus Georgetown

Today, the Syracuse University Men's Basketball team faces its (former) arch-rival Georgetown. I don't mean to attach too much significance to an early-season out-of-conference game, but if SU loses today, I don't think I will ever be happy again.

I might be exaggerating. But just to be safe: BEAT THE HOYAS!!

I miss the old Big East. Syracuse was right to jump to the ACC when it did--the days of the Big East as we knew it were numbered, and it was not a big number--but those rivalries with Georgetown and Connecticut have been tough to replace. Sure, the teams still meet and compete every year--and SU just recently beat those hated UConn Huskies--but it's not the same.

Nonetheless, I still root for SU every game, always convinced that this will be the year. Logic doesn't enter into it, nor should it. I'm a fan. I'm entitled to believe my team will win every game against every opponent. When they lose, I'm entitled to believe they will still win all remaining games. When the season ends too soon--and 2003 was the only year that it didn't end too soon--I'm entitled to believe that next year will be the year. I'm a fan, and it's my right.

On February 9th, 2011, when that old Big East conference was still intact, I sent an email to sports commentator Brent Axe for his radio and TV show On The Block. It was the afternoon before another presumably epic smackdown between the Syracuse Orange and the Georgetown Hoyas. This video captures Brent Axe reading my email on the air.

Duck season? Rabbit season? Don't be silly--it's HOYA season! The old days may be gone, but watching SU whip Georgetown would still be a guaranteed good time.

TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby! 

Our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 is now available from Kool Kat Musik! 29 tracks of irresistible rockin' pop, starring Pop Co-Op, Ray Paul, Circe Link & Christian Nesmith, Vegas With Randolph Featuring Lannie Flowers, The Slapbacks, P. Hux, Irene Peña, Michael Oliver & the Sacred Band Featuring Dave Merritt, The Rubinoos, Stepford Knives, The Grip Weeds, Popdudes, Ronnie Dark, The Flashcubes,Chris von Sneidern, The Bottle Kids, 1.4.5., The Smithereens, Paul Collins' Beat, The Hit Squad, The Rulers, The Legal Matters, Maura & the Bright Lights, Lisa Mychols, and Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers. You gotta have it, so order it here. 

Pearl Washington's Carrier Dome

Dwayne "Pearl" Washington played basketball for Syracuse University from 1983 to 1986. Outside of Coach Jim Boeheim himself, Pearl is the single person most responsible for raising Syracuse basketball--and Syracuse's Carrier Dome--into national relevance.  Pearl is suffering from a malignant brain tumor, and will be leaving us very soon.

My friend Mark Ballard posted this on Facebook, and I like it a million bazillion times:

I'd like to begin a campaign for the 2016-17 Basketball season to rename the Carrier Dome "The Pearl" Dome. 
Carrier has all but disappeared from CNY consciousness yet Pearl and his legacy continues to inspire and captivate players and fans still today. I realize big money gets naming rights and someday a sponsor will get behind a new facility or a remodel of the current one; but til then.., why not "The Pearl" Dome. What better tribute to the man who put Syracuse Basketball on the national map! Pass it on!!

My preference:  The Pearl, or The Pearl Dome

Bowing to the presumed legal reality that the facility will need to retain Carrier's name: Pearl Washington's Carrier Dome

Make it so.