By Bob Lobel @boblobel
So chose one!
Isn’t that what this week is all about? Pick a winner.
Best ever? Manning or Brady? Does it matter? Really?
Not at all... Really!
I’ll give you a choice that is far more difficult and personal than anything this football game or your Patriot fandom has to offer. The choice that Jerry Remy has made to come back to the broadcast booth for the Red Sox this coming season. To label this a horrific time for that family and all the others that became collateral damage is an understatement of Biblical proportions.
For transparency, I consider myself a friend and fan of Jerry and his work. Even before this last incredulous act by his son, Rem Dog had battled cancer and depression, so his path has not been one of what you might expect for someone that is such a recognizable personality. His decision to come back and face it all is, to me, one of personal courage that is difficult to imagine.
Most any of us, if faced with such daunting issues, would quietly slip away and disappear from view. Not here. I celebrate his courage and his decision and wish him the best possible support we can give. I hope it works for him.
Now, if you want to make a choice for this game, call a bookie. Prop bets are great fun and if you follow the Madden NFL video game, you know that it has been very successful at predicting 8 of the last 10 winners and actual scores. This year, based on statistics, and trial runs, Madden 25 picks Denver, 31-28, in the first ever overtime Super Bowl.
I would not bet against them.
Also this week, the region lost one of its iconic TV news guys. Chet Curtis, the Polish Prince to his friends, lost his fight with pancreatic cancer. His time on camera came at the peak of the local television personality domination, when branding name and face recognition with stations was crucial to the success of both.
People like Chet were more than just furniture in your home. They became family when choices were limited to a few people on a few stations. Chet would have laughed with all of us to think Honey Boo Boo would compete for the hearts and minds of the locals.
Now, finally, I choose to wish for the mother of all nor’easters for Sunday’s game, just to add to the excitement. No one gets hurt in this, but the NFL has to rethink its decision making.
Oh yeah, one more choice, and this is reserved for the decision making of the National Hockey League. Besides the cry for eliminating the ill conceived shootout, I’m here to tell you the outdoor stadium games was an idea that came, that conquered, and now should go away.
It was good once or twice, but recognize the novelty has worn off and get on with shrinking the league and improving the quality of play.
It’s their choice.
3 comments :
Bob really hockey outside in Los Angeles. Were they skating on ice cubes? As for Remy that is his decision. As for Chet -yes I did meet him and knew he was unique. Ed Harding reminds me of him too. Short.;-) Went to the Mass - missed seeing you. Brought Puffs paper tissue ( I tried to write kleenex but Facebook capitalized the K then I realized my error;-) Sat at the back. Since I drive like Hillary I thought it safer that way. Maybe I'll hear you at a Red Sox game?
Good one Bob.
While I agree that having an outdoor "series" for the NHL is a bad idea, I have really enjoyed the single, New Year's Day special game every year. I think it's important for the NHL to keep doing it, but limit it to (1) just one game, on January 1, and (2) to places where the ponds freeze. No Los Angeles, no Dallas, no San Jose, etc. Part of the attraction is the idea that it harkens back to pond hockey, and that it might just snow.
The NHL outdoors in L.A. was a dumb idea, and the Super Bowl outdoors in New Jersey was a dumb idea.
As for Jerry, we welcome him back with open arms.
-D-
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