Happy birthday, Double Down!

Your response was far too poetic for my utter cheeze.

 

A perfect summation of SportsJournalists.com.

 

In the next 10 years:

-- I want to overcome my fear of interviewing people, my fear of social settings.

-- I want to work at a major metro.

-- I also want to get a piece in a major mag, such as Time or Newsweek. Maybe SI.

-- I want to become a better person: nicer person, happier person, less afraid person.

-- I want to ramp down my fears. They totally consume me now.

-- I want to be a better son. I'm a horrible one.

-- I want to have kids, relatively soon. And I want to raise them right.

I know I am copying a couple of DD's, but whatever, those are my wishes/goals.

 

wow. after reading all these odes to DD, it's moved me to use caps when mentioning him. it's also made me realize what an honor it is to have been scolded by him.

then again, i should not be surprised. a few of my longest-standing and best kinships with the people i've covered were first born of misunderstandings or us getting off on the wrong foot.

one day when you're in the nyc area, perhaps DD and i can meet for a brew or two. aparently i've been missing out.

EDIT: oh, as for my goals at this advanced age: just to be less of a strain on my wife and kids due to my physical limitations. it's a drag living with me, despite my good humor, looks and decent head of hair. ;D ;D ;D

 

A fine list, wicked. Allow me to say that I still take deep breaths before I dial strange numbers for interviews, and that I don't often ask for directions or questions in stores because I'm not as comfortable as I want to be sometimes in my own skin. And despite experiencing some professional accomplishments, my fears (not just of failure, but, oddly, success) hold me back too. My wife, my friends and my mentors can attest to this.

So you and I will walk forward -- not looking down -- and trade in our Calvinism in for optimism just like true Red Sox fans of this new era are supposed to do. Deal?


And shockey, I'm sure that can be arranged.

 

Deal, DD. Thanks for the encouragement.

 

I used to subscribe -- still do, actually -- to a baseball theory of life. If the average life expectancy is 72 years, and we divide that by nine innings, that's eight years an inning. A thirty-year-old is the bottom of the fourth. That means there's still a lot of game left, anything can happen -- including extra innings -- but it's not the top of the first either. Thinking that way got me moving faster on some of the things that I've wanted to do. Now that I'm in the top of the fifth, I operate with even more urgency.

That doesn't mean I've done everything I want to do, though.

I think I've been a good husband and father, but I'd like to be a better one. I have to admit, with our first child, with Charley, I sometimes wished for him to get older -- so that we might sleep through the night, that he might feed himself, that he might stop crying when he wanted something and could ask for it with words. I regret that now, because my wife and I have suddenly realized how fast it really goes. He's like a little man already. Now that we have a second on the way -- and probably our last -- I'd like never to wish away a moment of it.

I'm working on a story now where a lot of people have talked about seeing things that made them go back outside and call their mothers and fathers and thank them for everything, to tell them that they're loved. Even if you've been rocky with your folks, the fact is, for you to be alive right now, they've had to put in a lot of effort and time and care with you. Babies don't raise themselves. I know that now. I'd like to try to remember how much my parents have done for me and try to repay some small fraction of it.

I'd like to own a neighborhood bar with lots of whiskey in it.

I'd like to write a book that cracks the New York Times top ten.

I'd like to write a movie. (If I'm being totally honest, I'd like to win an Oscar. And on my good days, I think I will.)

I'd like to get involved in politics someday. I mean directly involved. I'd like to run for something that other people vote for.

I'd like to spend a summer backpacking through Europe, because I missed that when I should have done it. But now I want to do it with my wife and kids. I want to show them as much of the world as I can. I want them to be travelers.

I will never be a scratch golfer, but I'd like to know the general direction of where my shot will go.

I'd like to learn French.

I'd like to build a house on the ocean and have people walk on the beach and say, That's a beautiful house -- not because it's big or expensive, but because it really is beautiful.

I'd like to go to Japan.

I'd like to dive the Truk Lagoon.

I'd like to donate or raise a lot of money for the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, because the doctors and nurses there saved Charley.

I'd like to eat the best ribs of my life.

I'd like to write some stories that people might think well of.

I'd like to learn CPR.

I'd like to ride a bike again, like when I was a kid.

I'd like to learn how to play craps.

I'd like to read East of Eden. That one, I'm crossing off next.

 

In the next 5 years ...

* I'd like to engage in one father-son conversation with my dad.
* I'd like to sustain a relationship with a girl more than 6 months.
* I'd like to go an entire year substance-free, though I'm on my way to doing that.
* I'd like to find a band to put music to my lyrics because I know some of the songs would be *it*
* I'd like to drive Canada coast-to-coast for 2-3 months
* I'd like to tour South America
* I'd like to coalate my million or so photos and do whatever it is I know I can do with them because they're good
* I'd like to call Paul Mazursky and James Caan and have them tell me what poker games with my grandpa were like
* I'd like to cover an Oasis concert and interview those goddamn Gallagher brothers
* I'd like to brainstorm with a screenwriter and see if we can't come up with a movie because it's doable
* I'd like to hear three words that I don't think I've truly ever heard before, cuz that would be sweet
* I'd like to go watch a Premier League match and chant with the chanters

 

Before I start a list, hope your birthday was a good one, DD.

Now ... to follow DD and Wick:

-I just want back on a sports desk. I got out because of non-professional reasons and cannot crawl back in. It's a work in progress.

-I'm not much of a son and would like to be a better one. More patient, more willing to listen, more willing to take more responsibility, more willing to ignore parents who aren't always rational and very understanding and more available no matter what I have going on.

-I want to learn more about percussion and percussive instruments. I played one instrument from early in middle school through college graduation, and can add a couple of years of piano and even some mallet percussion to the list. But while I won't be the next Neil Peart, John Bonham or Phil Collins, I'd still like to learn more than just the rudiments.

-I would like to have a hand in teaching a marching band or some concert band, just know my willingness to help a musician or a section of musicians become better, learn to enjoy the experience and immerse themselves into the music so that they enjoy it, not just go through the motions because someone else wants them to.

-I want to see another Duke-North Carolina basketball game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, want to cover another Stanley Cup playoff run (this time with an SE who isn't a jealous fool), want to walk the grounds of Augusta National and want to see at least a handful of EPL matches on the other side of the pond.

-I want to be a nicer person, someone who better goes with the flow of the world and someone who better relates to everything around me.

 

Goddamn, what a great thread, especially at Christmas time/New Years.

DD even gets born at the right time of year. Fucking chosen one.

 

Jesus, I had to make the joke once, right? MERRY CHRISTMAS, DICKHEAD!

 

Outstanding. you goddamn bitch! I hope you listen to Big Fun this week and get hit by a car! (let's talk!)