...Thank God I've only got 2 brothers to cover instead of 5...Egad...This should be a little easier...My brothers Joe and Danny were absolutely hilarious to be around growing up...It's true there was a huge difference in our ages...Joe was 9 years older than me...and Danny 5 years older than me...but we always seemed to get along...in a strange brotherly way...
...I can remember my brother Joe being about 15 and Danny 10 when they would have one of their all-out donneybrook battles of hockey in our basement....Somehow, Joe had gotten Danny so mad that he had lifted an entire couch off the floor and had Danny pinned underneath, as Dan desperately tried to squirm out of this choke-hold and come out swinging again...Well, minutes would pass, and Danny would not give up, he had this relentless determination, a ferocious competitve spirit...that just would never say die...As Danny was turning blue and sputtering out of breath...he told me...Jimmy...to run upstairs and get the biggest knife I could find in the kitchen drawer...I ran upstairs...and sure enough grabbed a huge butcher knife and ran downstairs to Dan...Joe got a little scared and was yelling...Don't give that to him!!!...But here was Danny...almost regaining his second wind...with the thought of having this knife to turn the tables...I gave Danny the knife and it was an all-out colossal battle once again...
Suddenly, one of my sisters ran down and started yelling at my brothers...Quit fighting and clean this basement up or I'm telling Dad!!!...This just sent a shockwave thru both of them...As bad as it might seem that they were entwined in an immortal battle...The thought of my Dad coming home and just crushing them with his blustery temper...put the fear of God in them...
...It was always like that...Plus...Another great hockey moment was when they played this game called SLAPSHOT...I was more or less, put in the corner of the basement where the steps led upstairs to the kitchen...which was one of our so-called hockey nets...My brothers then would put all kinds of layers of protection on me...I'd have like 3 winter coats zipped up on me...my Dad's work boots...and a catcher's mask and huge goalie knee pads...Next, they both pretended they were Bobby Hull, the superstar player of the Chicago Blackhawks, who had a blistering slapshot, and my brothers began unwinding shots directly towards me...Some of the shots were so wild that they would fly 20 feet to the right and crash into the glasses stacked behind our bar...Some of the shots were so hard, that they would actually knock out a huge chunk of tile that lined the steps that led up to the kitchen...Some shots I actually stopped but most of the time...the tremendous speed on the orange plastic pluck just blurred by me into the net...
...As time rolled on...me and my brothers grew apart...It was just a natural transition because of our age differences...Joe was at Notre Dame...Danny was at Brother Rice high school and I was having a blast at Tommy More...We seldom got together but whenever we did...it was a great time...
...I guess the one moment that sticks out when we were all together was for a Michigan/Notre Dame football game back when Danny was in college...Somehow, the game came down to a final field goal attempt by John Carney of Notre Dame to try to win the game...It would be the longest attempt in Notre Dame history...over 50 yards...I remember me and my brothers had all met up in the end zone...and would have a clear vantage point of the kick as it flew thru the air...
...It was a very tense moment...but as the ball was snapped, hundreds of Notre Dame students came running onto the field...screaming and screaming...Almost everyone in our end zone section began running out onto the field also...It was absolute pandomonium as the football hurtled upward from the kicker and finally made its way right down the center of the goal posts...
...It was not only a tremendous moment in Notre Dame football history...but for us...it was just a truly amazing sight to behold...It's too bad we didn't have more wild moments together like that but me and my brothers did get together for my brother Danny's bachelor party held at my DePaul area apartment years later...I don't think that crazy party ended until 7am the following day...
...Over the years...my brothers remain a vital part of my life...We talk on the phone when we can and I think it is very funny how we all have mellowed out over the years...Of course, they have their kids and their jobs that occupy most of their time, now...but essentially we still will always be brothers thru thick and thru thin...
...You really can't choose your brothers or sisters...You are more or less stuck with the lot that you are drawn...But over the years...I have been blessed with some pretty good siblings who have come and gone, in and out, throughout my life...So essentially...there you have it...a little more insight to some of the people who have shaped my life...There are many more people and many more moments to come...so hold on tight...because my wild and wooly years lie right around the corner...
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