MISC: Notes From Everywhere

Random thoughts from different places and times ...

Frank Thomas at the plate with the winning run at third and one out. If this was a movie, say Mr. Baseball, the Big Hurt bunts down the first-base line as the winning run crosses the plate. He'd be a hero, just like Tom Selleck was. Instead, Big Frank swings away and strikes out. The Blue Jays do not score and lose in extra innings. Can Frank bunt?

During the odd occasion of my being out this week (I needed my warm-weather ketchup, all 24 bottles of it), I saw a crossing walk sign that counted down the seconds instead of showing the steady CAN WALK graphic symbol. Smart idea, the kind that make you go, "I wish I'd thought of that!"

Caught a Monk episode from last year, Mr. Monk and the Rapper. Starred Snoop Dogg. From the rapped intro music to the acting of Snoop, it was a very, very good episode of the show. Snoop seems a living dichotomy, but he rarely fails to entertain. Would make a FASCINATING guest at your next brunch.

As I get older, I become more and more afraid of Alzheimer's Disease. It's the thing I fear most. It doesn't help that I'm having more and more problems remembering facts I DO know. It's not completely new, I occasionally obsess over a similar sounding name and can't get IT out of my head to let the real fact come in. Case in point: I was on the Headline Hunters TV game show about a hundred years ago (last century in fact). The Who Am I question started with something along the lines of "I set three American records in track and field in my first meet ever." I KNEW it was Jesse Owens immediately. But the night before, I'd watched Jessie O'Neill of the Saskatchewan Roughriders dominate the football game. Could NOT get O'Neill out and let Owens in ... at least until the fourth clue. So, I've been 'forgetting' for at least a quarter-century. It's just more prevalent these days.

A favourite memory from my reporting days: Cloudy September day with rain feeling like it's coming any second. I'm at Chinguacousy Park watching a track and field meet for Special Olympians. A group of young contestants are over at the standing broad jump pit. One of the boys is lined up at the board getting ready to jump. His eyes are clamped shut, his mouth a rictus of determination. He's pumping his fists getting ready to jump out into space. Finally, he throws his arms back and then forward, screams a 'YAAAAAA' and leaps out from the board. And lands, maybe, three inches from where he started. He's immediately mobbed by his fellow competitors, all congratulating him on the effort. Felt like going over there and doing the same myself. Whether he won or not that day doesn't matter. He and his friends sure felt he did.

And reversing back to that Headline Hunters appearance. The TV I won that night still works and was the family TV until replaced by a big rear-projection LCD two years ago. More than 25 years of service and now it's a credenza, but it COULD serve in a pinch. It's replacement? I'm thinking of replacing it already.