You CAN Teach an Old Dog A New Trick

I got a call the other day from my friend, Kevin, in Florida. He used to live here in Searsport, but moved a couple of years ago to a warmer climate. We chatted about old times; he mentioned receiving my Christmas card, and stuff like that.

Well, during the course of our conversation, Kevin told me about a good deed he happened to perform. Where he lives in Florida they have a “Goodwill-type” thrift store called St. Luke’s. Kevin likes to drop in every now and then just to browse, and for some reason, on this particular day, he wandered over to the duffel bag section. Kevin is NOT the athletic type, but decided to check out the duffel bags, anyway.

I’ve done that. I browse for something I don’t really need, but decide to look it over because “it’s calling my name”. What I usually pick out never gets used for the intention I had in mind, and 6 months later it’s in the annual yard sale.

Anyway, Kevin saw a lot of ratty looking bags, but a nice leather one caught his eye, and he took it home. How can you lose when it only costs you a couple of bucks.

When he got it home he cleaned it out, and a VERY nice ring dropped out. At first, Kevin thought it was a class ring from high school or college, but it turned out to be a National Championship ring for a member of an ASL Championship Softball Team.

Well, it’s not a Super Bowl or World Series ring, but he figured whoever used to own it, lost it, and would probably like it back. Now, here’s where Kevin’s “Good Samaritan” story gets interesting.

Kevin is TOTALLY averse to computers and high-tech gadgets. That’s OK… there are lots of people like that.

Lord knows, we’ve tried to bring Kevin into the 21^st century, but all efforts failed. Our mutual friend, Charliy, once set up a Yahoo email account for him, so he could go to the library, and keep in touch with his out-of-state children and grandchildren. It’s NEVER been used.

Well, it seems one of Kevin’s grown children gave him an I-Phone, and he actually USES it to make phone calls. He even learned how to do “Google” searches on it. Kevin figured now was a good time to learn how to use “Google”, and he set out to find the original owner of the championship ring. He was successful.

Sadly, it turns out the owner had passed away within the past few months, but he located his surviving daughter. She was THRILLED to get the ring back. They thought it was stolen by a cleaning lady at the motel they stayed in during the National Championship tournament. She said it is the perfect keepsake for her to have of her dad.

So, you see… you CAN teach an old dog (Kevin) a new trick (Google)…. But the story doesn’t end here.

Back when Kevin lived in Searsport, wherever he went he always had his dog, Finn, with him. Finn was an adorable and VERY loveable dog. My friend, Charliy, used to say that Finn was really the “brains” of the outfit. If it wasn’t for Finn, Kevin would be getting into all sorts of trouble.

Whenever you saw Kevin driving through town, you saw Finn, sitting next to him in the passenger seat… erect, just like a human, staring out the windshield. Charliy used to say it was really Finn driving the car. It was a British car, and Finn drove, and Kevin was the passenger.

Since Coastal Coffee Shop is closed for the winter, we tend to gather, sporadically, at the Dunkin Donut shop on the outskirts of town. When I told this “Good Samaritan” story at Dunkin’s, Charliy just shook his head in disbelief. He thought Kevin could really have an I-Phone... and he really could have learned to use it for phone calls… but “googling” on it… “Naw,” Charliy said, “I bet it was Finn.”

If It Bleeds, It Leads

I’ve taken to listening to my internet radio when I go to bed at night. I have a Logitech device that is about the size of the old-fashioned table-top radios, and I can listen to anything that’s live-streamed over the internet. It’s a refreshing alternative to the fare that’s on TV.

One of my favorites, is listening to 1010 WINS news, “All News, All the Time”, out of New York City.

Last night their lead story was about a funeral in Ridgewood, NJ for Michael Feeney. Michael was a 10-year old boy, who suffered from a rare form of bone cancer. During his fight with this disease, he received many honors, but the best one was being named the honorary Police Chief of Ridgewood, NJ for a day. His spirit and pluck inspired an awful lot of people.

The funeral had a full police escort, a flag-draped casket, and bagpipes. He was laid to rest the same way he lived his life – in style.

The fact that this story was the lead was what touched me. There is an old saying in journalism – “If it bleeds, it leads”. Freely speaking that means that the news-hungry public prefers guts, gore and violence, to “feel good” stories. That’s not very flattering to us, as a society.

WINS went away from this tenet. They could have used several other more conventional lead stories… a shooting in the Bronx… a DUI fatal accident on the Long Island Expressway… a mugging of an 80-year old woman in Brooklyn… but they didn’t. They chose a heart-warming, and tear-inducing story of a brave 10-year old boy.

Here is where the surprise came for me.

I sent an email to WINS telling them how much I appreciated their using the funeral as their lead story, instead of something more dire or gruesome. I got back the “automated” thank you message, along with instructions about how to follow them on Twitter and Facebook. I’m a Facebook user, so I signed up, and their early morning posting was about the “overwhelming response” to the Feeney funeral story.

I guess my fellow citizens are not as ghastly as many editors think. Maybe we really DO like good news over bad news. I’m sure the old adage, “If it bleeds, it leads”, is still going strong, but at least for one day a news agency went against “conventional” wisdom, and it paid off for them.

Some folks told me it was because the story came right after Thanksgiving, and others said it was because we are in the Christmas season. Maybe that’s true, but I don’t care. It happened. I guess there’s hope for us as a society after all.

Rolling Up The Sidewalks

Now that Coastal Coffee has closed for the season, the only thing left to do before winter fully arrives… as in a foot of snow and sub-freezing temperatures on a daily basis… is to roll up the sidewalks.

In real life, wouldn’t that be cool if we could actually do that. We could store them in the Town Maintenance Garage for the winter, and roll them out again in the spring. No chips, holes, or cracks.

Anyway, for those of us “die-hard” coffee klatchers, we now meet once a week at Coastal Coffee East – aka – Dunkin Donuts. The local branch of that chain is located about a mile outside of town, so on good days, I walk there, and on not-so-good days, I get a ride from Tim and Karen Rose. Tim and I share a fantasy football team this year, so we go over our strategy for the upcoming weekend, then chat about any local news, and then have a 3-handed game of cribbage.

Once in a while, another one of the “locals” wanders in, and they join the klatch.

That happened last week, as Charlie Snowdale, aged 97 and getting younger every day, stopped by. If we had a “Cribbage Master of Searsport”, Charlie would surely be it. He’s physically slowing down a tad, but his cribbage mind is still as sharp as ever. We asked him to join us in our weekly cribbage game, and he quipped, “I thought you’d never ask.”

Charlie and Karen took on Tim and I, and they were beating us handily. Surprise, surprise… LOL. As the game neared the finish, though, Tim and I staged a furious comeback. After my second deal, Charlie and Karen were in the dead hole (one point away from winning), and Tim and I were only 2 holes behind them.

Charlie had the next deal, and I reminded Tim to save “pegging” cards, because the dealer is mathematically guaranteed at least one point, so we had to “peg out” to win the game. This worried Karen a bit, and she asked Charlie what was their best strategy for keeping Tim and I from winning. Charlie calmly replied, “Don’t worry, Brian will cut me a Jack” - worth 2 points, and a quick victory. Well, the odds of that are approximately, 420 to 1, so Tim and I weren’t worried.

Charlie dealt, and I kept a king, deuce, four and a six. Pretty good cards for getting a “pegging” victory. I then cut the deck, and it was a jack. We all laughed heartily. What a great way to end our exciting game.  That’s why Charlie is the “King” of Searsport cribbage. He finds many, many ways of defeating you. Charlie is truly an inspiration to all of us “youngsters”. As the temperature continues to drop, our love of a good game of cribbage with not… and Charlie Snowdale will continue to give us “lessons”. It’s a great way to wait for the sidewalks to be rolled out again.

Suits You To A Tee - Tee Shirt That Is

Well, Coastal Coffee House has closed for the season. We are now officially in “winter mode” here in Searsport. For the die-hard coffee folks, we will change our venue to Coastal Coffee East – better known as Dunkin Donuts.

The final day was Veterans Day. It went out in grand style. Thanks to Karen and Tim Rose, we had a nice “Thanks Veterans” cake that we served to anyone having coffee that day, and as a special treat, a former Marine, “Old” Charlie Snowdale (97 years old), sang the Marine Hymn all by himself…. No assistance needed. Way to go, Charlie!

An older lady came in that day. She was traveling through Searsport, spotted the “Open” flag, and stopped for a quick cup of coffee to go.  She sported a sweatshirt that said, “I See No Reason To Act My Age”. Several of us commented how much we liked her sweatshirt, and she thanked us for noticing. I mentioned a tee shirt I’d seen earlier this year on another older person. The front sported, “When I was a kid I wanted to be older”, and on the back you saw, “This is not what I expected.” Our customer said she DEFINITELY  wanted to get one of those…

The most interesting tee shirt this season, however, involved a shirt AND a baseball cap.

A gentleman had on an LSU (Louisiana State University) ball cap, and a bright red tee shirt with “Bama” across the front. He mentioned that he is an Alabama graduate.

As a side note, I noticed that every time he mentioned “Alabama”, he parenthetically added, “Roll Tide”. I have a hunch that Alabama has a state law that states anytime a ‘Bama grad mentions the school without saying “Roll Tide”, they lose their driver’s license for a month, or something like that..

Anyway, he went on to explain that even though he was an Alabama alumni, his son chose to attend LSU, and was going to be a junior this fall. Well, I exclaimed, that must have sprouted a few testy discussions when he picked that school to attend. “That’s nothing”, his wife replied, “I’m an Auburn grad”.

Now, for those not familiar with college football rivalries, the Alabama-Auburn rivalry is akin to the Hatfield-McCoy feud. It’s downright NASTY.  She continued, “When we started dating, it took me a month before I told my parents he went to Alabama, and after he proposed to me, it was several weeks before I stopped taking off my engagement ring whenever I went into our house.”

We talked a little bit about the various side bets that are taken each year when the schools play each other. That’s when I found they have an older daughter who graduated from Florida State. Talk about rivalries… this family has the mother-lode of them all.

During our chat, they told about the various side-bets they have each year. It all has to do with which teams win various football games, and the bets are about who brings what to Christmas dinner, and stuff like that. I forgot all the ins and outs of the various wagers, but they seemed to have made some bitter, BITTER rivalries into a lot of playful fun. I don’t know how they did it, but I’d like them to take a trip to Washington, and teach their family “trick” to all the members of Congress.

The Jonathan Factor

Last night the Boston Red Sox defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 6 – 1, to win the 2013 World Series. This is their 3^rd World Series Championship in 10 years, a record to be envied, and the first time since 1918, that they won the deciding game in their home ballpark.

Last year, the Red Sox finished in last place in the American league East, with a record of 69 wins and 93 losses. In a complete reversal, they finished this year in 1^st place in the American League East, with a record of 97 wins and 65 losses. There are many theories about how the Red Sox accomplished such a fantastic turnaround.

Many feel it was the General Manager – Ben Cherington – who engineered such good signings during the off season – Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino, and Stephen Drew.

Some say it was the “unknown” players they acquired or had in their system  – Daniel Nava, Johnny Gomes, and Koji Uehara.

Still a 3^rd group said it was when they hired John Farrell as their new manager.

All of them are plausible theories, but the truth of the matter is, the Red Sox are World Champs because of “The Jonathan Factor”.

“The Jonathan Factor” refers to my grandson – Jonathan Callahan.

I first learned of “The Jonathan Factor” a few weeks ago, when my favorite team, the Detroit Tigers, were locked in a heated battle with the Red Sox for the American League Championship, and the right to play in the World Series.

The Tigers were playing in Detroit and had just won Game 4, to tie the series at two games apiece. My son called me from his home in Iowa, and he found me in a fairly jovial tone because the Tigers only had to win two of the next 3 games to head to the World Series. I was feeling good about my chances because we had three of the top pitchers in the American League, poised and ready to go – Max Scherzer, Anibel Sanchez and Justin Verlander. Surely, two of them would be winners.

I asked my son if his favorite Red Sox were “quaking in their boots”, and he said, “Not as long as we have ‘The Jonathan Factor’ on our side”.

This is how he explained it.

When his son, Jonathan was born in January of 2004, that summer Robert took him to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park and held him in his arms. That year the Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918 and broke their infamous “drought” of World Series failures.

In 2007, while living in Ohio, Robert took Jonathan to his second Red Sox game, in Cleveland. That year the Red Sox beat the Colorado Rockies in the World Series.

This year, I was supposed to visit with my son and his family in Iowa, but couldn’t make the trip. I did, however, send them the tickets I had purchased for the Kansas City Royals – Boston Red Sox game on August 11^th…. Jonathan’s third Red Sox game… and this year the Red Sox won the World Series again.

Now I know why my Detroit Tigers never had a chance. I also know why the Cardinals, despite an interference call, and facing a Red Sox lineup that suddenly had “cold bats”, didn’t stand a chance, either… “The Jonathan Factor”.

My son feels that season tickets from the Red Sox are in order, and he may be right. I figure they should at least let my grandson lead the victory parade through downtown Boston. He and “Big Papi”!

As the late Paul Harvey used to say… “Now you know the rest of the story.”