...I think this is as good a time as ever, to get to meet some of my little buddies, growing up, my dear, sweet, nieces & nephews...Really, the first wave of the bunch, only range 6-12 years younger than me and we pretty much had a complete ball...growing up together...
...Of course, we have to go way back to 1970 when the whole kiddie train express began rolling thru the O'Leary depot...Boom...!!!...Right out of the box...Young Charlie, Eddie, Colleen, Mike, Michelle, Thomas, Carrie, Pat, Kate, Patrick & Petey & Bridget...all came screaming into the world...Every single one of them...a pure joy to be around...
(Really, we should include Jimmy & Johnny & Katie Fitz...too...because they were not too far behind...and equally enjoyed the chaos...and let's just throw in Joey & Sean & Kevin & Kelly & Danny & Shea who would rock into this world...sometime down the line in the 1980's & beyond)
...There was never, ever anything less than an endless amount of laughter and good times as we played all kinds of games...together...growing up...Oh gosh, back then...I'd pick them up & toss them around...and give them all piggy-back rides...until I'd collapse...from exhaustion...And at that point, they would all be yelling...Do it again...!!!...Do it again...!!!...
...It was such a precious time, almost a golden era, itself, seeing these little tykes, chewing on their pacifiers, running around in their diapers, always full of fun...Of course, our times we shared together up in Lake Geneva...are just permanently imbedded in all our minds...
It is just unmistakable, not to recall, chasing each other around the blue/green shag carpeted living room...My Mom had this funky GREEN SHAG BALL...and it was huge & heavy...and we'd roll it back at each other...or run into the back bedroom and make some neat forts out of the bunk beds...
...Those old bunk beds...when transformed into forts...were just about the coolest thing in the world to these young kids...draping a blanket from the upper bed, over the lower bed...creating a hidden oasis...for those huddling inside...giggling & giggling away...almost never wanting to leave...those forts...because it was like no other place they could imagine...
...Also, out in the kitchen, in those olden days, we had these swivel bar stools around the tall, circular kitchen table...It truly was unique...and I don't know how many times, these tykes came close to falling off the bar stools, because they all loved to spin & spin...around & around, until they were out of their minds...dizzy...
We celebrated a ton of birthday parties out at that table, all the kids gathered around a burning candle-lit cake, spinning & spinning...Just having a good time, amidst their Mom's & Gramma scurrying about to fill their plates with ice cream & cake, trying to get things all pulled off, without someone crying or making too big of a mess...
...Of course, bed time up at the LAKE HOUSE was immense fun...because all the kids were winding down from a day of complete joy...piling into the pink & green alcove genie bed, or somewhere nearby...once again...giggling away...as me or Gramma or their Mom's would read them a bed time story...all of us caught up in the moment...gently folding page after page...with the kiddies eyes...nodding off...every now and then...
...then daybreak would come and the kids were off to the pier or off to the beach or out onto the Granny Franny for a delightful adventure ride...We'd always be counting off the life preservers we'd need for this huge assemblence of kids...
God, some of them, absolutely hated wearing a life preserver....and who could blame them...they got awfully hot to wear with the sun, beating down on them...and they were so bulky & heavy...and their clasps had to be adjusted constantly because these kids were quite a handful...
...It wasn't uncommon for the kids to jump up next to Gramma who always sat in the back of the boat, feeling the sprays from the waves coming aboard and drenching them, with water and with laughter...Gramma always had extra beach towels...aboard...to cover the kiddies...when they got drenched or needed away to hide from the sun...that seemed to blaze down from the sky...
...Just some amazing, amazing memories...out on the Granny Franny...with all the kiddies...Sometimes, I really think my Mom & Dad had every intention of buying the boat for us 8 older kids...but it soon became obvious...all the tiny grandchildren just loved every minute aboard the Granny Franny...even more...You just can't buy that much fun...these days...because they were much simpler times...and things were so much more relaxed back then...
...Today...parents huddle over their kids...every single second..expecting the worst...from their children's every tiny little movement...But back then...we all didn't mind a little danger...Grampa was nearby...or someone like Grampa...who could easily just swoop down...if need be...and we were all quite lucky...because none of us...ever fell overboard...or ever had any kind of stressful moment...
...Of course...Gramma always loved to pick up toys from Schultz's or Ben Franklin...They could be squirt guns or rubber balls or little balsa wood airplanes...or frisbees...and on and on and on...
...Playing frisbee or tag or the unforgettable baseball games in our backyard at the Lake House, are also etched permanently in our brains...I'd love to make our whiffle ball--baseball games as realistic as possible...even though we were only using plastic FAT ALBERT bats...that would belt endless homers...up...and over...the roof...
...What an incredible display...of popping one...way up high...or way out into Barney & Grace's yard next door...We all just had a knack for easily manage jumping from our yard into a 3 foot drop into Barney's yard to quickly retrieve the ball as someone was scampering around the bases in glee...just glowing they had just parked one out on their Uncle Jim...
...And sometimes...the plastic whiffle ball would get lost in the huge density of shrubs and foliage that lined the perimeter of the Yellow House...It would stop our games...and we'd all gather sifting through the shrubs...with someone always shouting triumphantly of finding the ball...
...Also...our neighbor to the right...Bev...would sometimes...keep our ball..if we hit it out onto her deck...where she liked to relax and look out at the water, drinking a beer, listening to a ball game on a transistor radio...We'd almsot form a SWAT SQUAD mentality, if we knew we were gonna have to form a search & rescue team...to sneak onto Bev's deck and scavenger back the ball...
...You really could go on & on...the horse rides, the go cart rides...going to PLAYLAND or the RIVIERA in Lake Geneva to play old video & pinball games...some of those...which still remain there...to this very day...
...And we always had a gaggle of good times back on 86th Street for holidays or an occaisional visit...All the kids were just happening at such a rapid succession, that it seemed our good times woulde never, ever end...and even as the children grew...they all had such a big smile, recalling those precious moments...with Gramma...with Grampa...with their brothers & sisters...with their cousins...with their Mom's & Dad's...and Aunts & Uncles...
...All moments...steeped deeply into their very fabric...of who they were and who they are now...for the traditions of good times...and love and laughter...were truly unique & special in every which way...
...I'd love to pull out some especially great moments that occured from each of my nieces & nephews, perspective, of the impact they had upon my life...individually...but we are talking 21 kids...and such a wide array of stories and I'd hate to put more emphasis on one story rather than another...
Basically, they all know, those were some of the best times, we ever had...and there really is never, ever gonna be a shortage of time...to bring back those memories, together, whenever we still...get the chance to talk or visit...
...Many of my nieces & nephews have their own kids...these days...and the joy they share with their children almost reflects the spirit of good times...they had as children...way back then...long, long ago...back in the 1970's...just a heartbeat away...to many of us...even to this very day...
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
STM: Sister Brenda & Sister Elvira
Indeed...aghast washes over many the faces...who read the title of this installment...for we are about to delve into the twisted, kooky world...of two helplessly, bizarre nuns...who graced many of our lives at Saint Thomas More...back in the 4th & 5th Grade...
Sister Brenda & Sister Elvira...hold the distinction of being the most feared nuns at Saint Thomas More...during the time of their glorious reign...back in the bustling early/mid 70's...When you ever-presently think back to, back then, our flat-out, overwhelming sentiments of us kooky kids were "Ohh...please, please, please God...just don't let me end up with either, Sister Brenda or Sister Elvira for homeroom. I will clean my room, I will eat my peas and I'll even play the big-ass tuba or the silly little flute , in the school band, gosh darnit, if you let me slide, this one, one time...Please God...I'm just telling you...I'm too young to die..."...Undoubtedly, this mantra echoed thru every school child's incredibly intense, almost sobbing, out-of-control, prayers, at mass every Sunday morning...
Let's see...Hmmmm...who should we go with first...Flip a coin...Pick your poison...Ohh hell, just get it over with...like ripping off that nasty scab on your knee...or getting vaccinated with that giant stinging needle...back then...
Oh yes, here we go...why not...Sister Brenda...Why not...indeed...
Sister Brenda...just showed up one unforgettable day, out of the clear blue, and sucked the life out of every single kid's life she came in contact with...She was in her 60's...wildly, witch-like, white hair...just ferociously ugly...and her screaming and ranting voice pierced your very trembling little soul...as she taught us back in the 4th Grade...when we were still more like meek, lost impressionable lambs...more than anything...else...
Her demeanor was almost demonic...not that she was THE DEVIL...but awfully damn, close...
And unfortunately, for my classmate, Danny Hahn, her wrath became totally fixated on him mostly, and his long, long blonde hair....We all had the BIG SCARY HAIRY HAIR...back then...but Danny's hair was almost as long & as pretty as a girl's hair...And for this...he would be punished extremely beyond his small, slim body could fathom and rather harrowingly way beyond his harmlessly, naiave comprehension...too...
Sister Brenda, would wretchedly grab ahold of Danny's golden locks and just unmercellesly pull it as hard as she could, flinging Danny, all about, like a rag doll, just leaving the kid, almost in a delerium of sorts...We did call Danny, affectionately, CHONGO, back then, because that was the name of a wild jungle kid...on The Banana Splits show...
See. the Banana Splits, was THE TOP KID's SHOW back then and our Chongo did like to duplicate/make the crazy "Monkey Noises" that the real Chongo made, making us laugh and laugh and laugh...Danny Hahn definitely was alot wilder, than your average kid...
But for our CHONGO, the laughter of hopping all about, making funny faces, joking all around, quickly disappeared...as Sister Brenda, put the hammer down, ruthlessly, slapping Danny's face, Smmmaaaackkk, grabbing his hair, and endlessly telling all the children,
Hahn, you look like a girl....Just look at this hair...It's a girls...When are you gonna get it cut...???
Brenda also absolutely had a genuine obsession with finding alot of kids with big, puffy-wuffy cheeks...and squeezing them ever so tightly and twisting them, mangling them, turning them red & blue...until it ungodly hurt...
Chalk up the extra chubby cheeks of big guys, Joe Just & Mike Mulligan, primarily, followed by the punk patrol...Slim Farrell & John Fitz. I know Slim & Fitz took quite a few slugs from Sister B...Hey, just about anyone could fall under her clenching claws...at any given moment...so for God's sake...watch out...!!!...
Then we get a little sordid and strange...Why...??? How should I throw this out? Another little shocker about the dubiously demented Sister Brenda...was she definitely sadistically enjoyed to get all the young boys lined up at the urinals, in the bathroom, in quick, little impromtu sessions....
There she was, in the boys bathroom, walking very slowly and almost the entire time, leering wickedly at us, hovering right up behind us, brushing her long nun's habit up against all of us...screaming at the top of her lungs...in unholy terror...
....GET THE POISON OUT, BOYS...!!!...GET THAT POISON OUT...!!!
Something tells me, dear, dear Sister Brenda had a slight bit of a psychological imbalance, Oh gosh...we really hated the idea of entering the bathroom with Sister Brenda baring down on us from behind...Damn...Talk about a total nightmare...hahaha....Sure, now we can laugh...
But hey...those were our times...and we had to, no doubt, roll with the punches...
Onto...the equally ominous and unaminously feared...Sister Elvira...She, herself, was almost a curmudgeonly midget of sorts...but don't let that fool you...she packed a wicked wallop...in her devilishly dynamic heart, that shifted from serene to psycho...in 2 seconds flat...
And if there was one distinct flaw I had to share about Elvira that sets her apart...(and believe me...there are many...dozens and dozens...and dozens..)...it would be her unwavering usage of Lysol Spray as a weapon of destruction...
Sister Elvira sprayed Lysol on everything...nothing was out of bounds...including you peanut and jelly sandwich...at lunch...Sure....she was the ultimate germaphobe's germaphobe...rendering all of us choking for dear life...as the nauseating mist...waffled about in a dense fog...across the entire classroom...all the time...
And I do know Fitz got half a can sprayed on his ass for farting...Oh well, Fitz, you shoulda seen that coming and not eaten so many beans...that day...my friend...
My brother Danny always gets a chuckle speaking of her sneak attacks with Lysol, while he had her, 5 years before, pouncing on unsuspeting kids, like a poor young fool, who dared to dawdle his loose toes, circling his warm, unsuspecting shoe...to and fro...
Booooom...!!!...Elvira, like a hyper kinetic cat, sharply descended upon him in a lightning, hellish fury...kicking the lad's shoe clearly across the floor...sending it spinning...then spraying an entire can...into the shoe...which took about 2 whole minutes...soaking, soaking and soaking, every conceivable germ out of that shoe's life...and then some...for sure...And who doesn't think back, now, scratching their head, saying...I wonder how "one shoe Willie" walked home that day...???
I, myself, can recall, one day, back then, being let go, to go to the bathroom, from my homeroom, down the hall...and slowly, gingerly wandering by...down the quiet corridor of an empty school hall...in a hush...past Elvira's classroom door, peering in at my dear school chums, caught in her elusive grip of terror...
There, I saw my good buddy, John Feely, a tall, curly-haired, amiable kid, if there ever was one...next to Slim & Fitz, almost frozen in a spooky, frightful stare...just following Elvira's erratic path...past him....as she mumbled past his desk...where he probably expected a wooden ruler across the hands or a cheap shot upside the head or maybe the the funky-fumigating Lysol...would make a special appearance...
I kid you not...I absolutely kid you not...And poor, poor, John Armata...just a rummy-dummy kid, just a fragile target, who endlessly struggled along...Imagine this tiny, Elvira, bashing away at this smiley, large, man-child, day in...and day out...I can still feel Armata's hopelessness now, wondering why he, such a happy soul, must endure such insanity...
We all, of course, no doubt, gained a tremendous respect for all our other teachers, who were not hell-bent on blending their ferociously chaotic, sinister spells...with their rabble-grabble mixture of pious, religious whaling & endless babbling of incoherent instructions...
I, myself, as I'm sure others, do too...feel so sorry for all those good, sweet nun's we knew, beautiful people...who incredibly shaped our young lives so much...in so many good ways...Those good & gracious nuns were amazing individuals whose loyalty to God & ability to emit God's love towards us, will always ring true...
But unfortunately, we instead, choose to focus on the two undeniably, dispicable, whackos, from some dark planet, in our solar system, or beyond...(...hell...???)
Surely...This perplexing paradox was not a pretty sight...to behold...our fate back then, but it did truly make us mighty, mighty tougher...for the realities of the real world...because as bad as your crummy job got, later on down the line, or how far your college grades slid...at least there was no turning back the clock...to you know what...and you know when...and you especially know, to you know who...
Sister Brenda...Sister Elvira...the twisted sisters...the tormenting twin terrors...the nasty, ghastly, one-of-a-kind nuns...Surely, our distinctive memories of them make us shyly shudder & shake...but inevitably, they make us laugh...a deep, deep, uproarious belly laugh......
Because the level of horrific absurdity...that reigned down on us...gave us a good measure of strength to overcome our fears...and leave us reminding each other...of our gallantry, to make it thru...to another day...in another time...in another splendid dimension...truly unique...to us Tommy More gang...back in the day...
Sister Brenda & Sister Elvira...hold the distinction of being the most feared nuns at Saint Thomas More...during the time of their glorious reign...back in the bustling early/mid 70's...When you ever-presently think back to, back then, our flat-out, overwhelming sentiments of us kooky kids were "Ohh...please, please, please God...just don't let me end up with either, Sister Brenda or Sister Elvira for homeroom. I will clean my room, I will eat my peas and I'll even play the big-ass tuba or the silly little flute , in the school band, gosh darnit, if you let me slide, this one, one time...Please God...I'm just telling you...I'm too young to die..."...Undoubtedly, this mantra echoed thru every school child's incredibly intense, almost sobbing, out-of-control, prayers, at mass every Sunday morning...
Let's see...Hmmmm...who should we go with first...Flip a coin...Pick your poison...Ohh hell, just get it over with...like ripping off that nasty scab on your knee...or getting vaccinated with that giant stinging needle...back then...
Oh yes, here we go...why not...Sister Brenda...Why not...indeed...
Sister Brenda...just showed up one unforgettable day, out of the clear blue, and sucked the life out of every single kid's life she came in contact with...She was in her 60's...wildly, witch-like, white hair...just ferociously ugly...and her screaming and ranting voice pierced your very trembling little soul...as she taught us back in the 4th Grade...when we were still more like meek, lost impressionable lambs...more than anything...else...
Her demeanor was almost demonic...not that she was THE DEVIL...but awfully damn, close...
And unfortunately, for my classmate, Danny Hahn, her wrath became totally fixated on him mostly, and his long, long blonde hair....We all had the BIG SCARY HAIRY HAIR...back then...but Danny's hair was almost as long & as pretty as a girl's hair...And for this...he would be punished extremely beyond his small, slim body could fathom and rather harrowingly way beyond his harmlessly, naiave comprehension...too...
Sister Brenda, would wretchedly grab ahold of Danny's golden locks and just unmercellesly pull it as hard as she could, flinging Danny, all about, like a rag doll, just leaving the kid, almost in a delerium of sorts...We did call Danny, affectionately, CHONGO, back then, because that was the name of a wild jungle kid...on The Banana Splits show...
See. the Banana Splits, was THE TOP KID's SHOW back then and our Chongo did like to duplicate/make the crazy "Monkey Noises" that the real Chongo made, making us laugh and laugh and laugh...Danny Hahn definitely was alot wilder, than your average kid...
But for our CHONGO, the laughter of hopping all about, making funny faces, joking all around, quickly disappeared...as Sister Brenda, put the hammer down, ruthlessly, slapping Danny's face, Smmmaaaackkk, grabbing his hair, and endlessly telling all the children,
Hahn, you look like a girl....Just look at this hair...It's a girls...When are you gonna get it cut...???
Brenda also absolutely had a genuine obsession with finding alot of kids with big, puffy-wuffy cheeks...and squeezing them ever so tightly and twisting them, mangling them, turning them red & blue...until it ungodly hurt...
Chalk up the extra chubby cheeks of big guys, Joe Just & Mike Mulligan, primarily, followed by the punk patrol...Slim Farrell & John Fitz. I know Slim & Fitz took quite a few slugs from Sister B...Hey, just about anyone could fall under her clenching claws...at any given moment...so for God's sake...watch out...!!!...
Then we get a little sordid and strange...Why...??? How should I throw this out? Another little shocker about the dubiously demented Sister Brenda...was she definitely sadistically enjoyed to get all the young boys lined up at the urinals, in the bathroom, in quick, little impromtu sessions....
There she was, in the boys bathroom, walking very slowly and almost the entire time, leering wickedly at us, hovering right up behind us, brushing her long nun's habit up against all of us...screaming at the top of her lungs...in unholy terror...
....GET THE POISON OUT, BOYS...!!!...GET THAT POISON OUT...!!!
Something tells me, dear, dear Sister Brenda had a slight bit of a psychological imbalance, Oh gosh...we really hated the idea of entering the bathroom with Sister Brenda baring down on us from behind...Damn...Talk about a total nightmare...hahaha....Sure, now we can laugh...
But hey...those were our times...and we had to, no doubt, roll with the punches...
Onto...the equally ominous and unaminously feared...Sister Elvira...She, herself, was almost a curmudgeonly midget of sorts...but don't let that fool you...she packed a wicked wallop...in her devilishly dynamic heart, that shifted from serene to psycho...in 2 seconds flat...
And if there was one distinct flaw I had to share about Elvira that sets her apart...(and believe me...there are many...dozens and dozens...and dozens..)...it would be her unwavering usage of Lysol Spray as a weapon of destruction...
Sister Elvira sprayed Lysol on everything...nothing was out of bounds...including you peanut and jelly sandwich...at lunch...Sure....she was the ultimate germaphobe's germaphobe...rendering all of us choking for dear life...as the nauseating mist...waffled about in a dense fog...across the entire classroom...all the time...
And I do know Fitz got half a can sprayed on his ass for farting...Oh well, Fitz, you shoulda seen that coming and not eaten so many beans...that day...my friend...
My brother Danny always gets a chuckle speaking of her sneak attacks with Lysol, while he had her, 5 years before, pouncing on unsuspeting kids, like a poor young fool, who dared to dawdle his loose toes, circling his warm, unsuspecting shoe...to and fro...
Booooom...!!!...Elvira, like a hyper kinetic cat, sharply descended upon him in a lightning, hellish fury...kicking the lad's shoe clearly across the floor...sending it spinning...then spraying an entire can...into the shoe...which took about 2 whole minutes...soaking, soaking and soaking, every conceivable germ out of that shoe's life...and then some...for sure...And who doesn't think back, now, scratching their head, saying...I wonder how "one shoe Willie" walked home that day...???
I, myself, can recall, one day, back then, being let go, to go to the bathroom, from my homeroom, down the hall...and slowly, gingerly wandering by...down the quiet corridor of an empty school hall...in a hush...past Elvira's classroom door, peering in at my dear school chums, caught in her elusive grip of terror...
There, I saw my good buddy, John Feely, a tall, curly-haired, amiable kid, if there ever was one...next to Slim & Fitz, almost frozen in a spooky, frightful stare...just following Elvira's erratic path...past him....as she mumbled past his desk...where he probably expected a wooden ruler across the hands or a cheap shot upside the head or maybe the the funky-fumigating Lysol...would make a special appearance...
I kid you not...I absolutely kid you not...And poor, poor, John Armata...just a rummy-dummy kid, just a fragile target, who endlessly struggled along...Imagine this tiny, Elvira, bashing away at this smiley, large, man-child, day in...and day out...I can still feel Armata's hopelessness now, wondering why he, such a happy soul, must endure such insanity...
We all, of course, no doubt, gained a tremendous respect for all our other teachers, who were not hell-bent on blending their ferociously chaotic, sinister spells...with their rabble-grabble mixture of pious, religious whaling & endless babbling of incoherent instructions...
I, myself, as I'm sure others, do too...feel so sorry for all those good, sweet nun's we knew, beautiful people...who incredibly shaped our young lives so much...in so many good ways...Those good & gracious nuns were amazing individuals whose loyalty to God & ability to emit God's love towards us, will always ring true...
But unfortunately, we instead, choose to focus on the two undeniably, dispicable, whackos, from some dark planet, in our solar system, or beyond...(...hell...???)
Surely...This perplexing paradox was not a pretty sight...to behold...our fate back then, but it did truly make us mighty, mighty tougher...for the realities of the real world...because as bad as your crummy job got, later on down the line, or how far your college grades slid...at least there was no turning back the clock...to you know what...and you know when...and you especially know, to you know who...
Sister Brenda...Sister Elvira...the twisted sisters...the tormenting twin terrors...the nasty, ghastly, one-of-a-kind nuns...Surely, our distinctive memories of them make us shyly shudder & shake...but inevitably, they make us laugh...a deep, deep, uproarious belly laugh......
Because the level of horrific absurdity...that reigned down on us...gave us a good measure of strength to overcome our fears...and leave us reminding each other...of our gallantry, to make it thru...to another day...in another time...in another splendid dimension...truly unique...to us Tommy More gang...back in the day...
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Danny O's
Without further adieu...it's time to roll back to the hey-dey of my family's version of Michael Jordan...The young sports phenom known around the hood as O's...my brother Dan...
Danny could do it all, in basically every phase of every sport, with a flair, a quickness, and a determination, that just left people in awe...I'd go watch him play shortstop for the Indians in Little League up at the park...and was amazed how effortless he made every ball look that came bashing his way...
He could stab it, he could scoot it...And when he got up to the plate...He could crack that ball to any field, then scamper for extra bases...I was kinda shocked he was my brother, because he never displayed his full abilities when horsing around the house...with us...
Of course, he had excellent, excellent, first class speed that served him well, playing basketball, which would be a life-long passion....There he would go, blistering by the opposition...quickly down the court. And he had such a natural stroke, from outside...
Just money...a sweet swish...many a time...It was his element, his time, his moment to shine...almost taking over the court, with his swarming defense...and his instincts for the ball...always coming to the forefront...
If you had O's on your team...you pretty much knew he was going to unleash an intensity, that was going to make a difference...Time and time, again, he just knew what to do, without any coaching...Just a formidable talent, who took it to the limit...
And then there was football...where he would go down as a legend, in Tommy More lore...In one single game, Danny scored 5 touchdowns...count em...5...!!!...On that day, as well as others, Dan just had it all, cooking on all burners...
He was an all-star running back, who could dash and dart, fake and roll, even bowl you over...if it was down on the goal line...The day after the game, on Monday, they declared it DANNY O'LEARY DAY...at Saint Thomas More...to honor this great achievement...
Danny never cared about the medals or awards, the trophies or accolades bestowed upon him...He just loved to, flat-out, compete...Plain and simple...And as he left the halls of St. Thomas More to go on to Brother Rice...he had gained a confidence and a discipline that always served him well...throughout his life...always...even up to this very day...
See, his fiery, never-say-die, determination will never leave him...It's always been apparent that he would be successful in everything he'd do...that he set his mind to...And even though he never mentions anything about his past...You can just tell, the little kid in him...would just like to regain that strength, that speed and that agility...one more time.....
He's always going to have that competitive edge...that cannot be denied...and one of his greatest moments, that I witnessed, was up at the old Carrol Park fieldhouse, for the Field Hockey championship...when he was 16 years old...
See, in our neighborhood, field hockey, was your true measure, of being incredibly tough...When you got out onto that gymnasium floor, it was a mayhem of grim brutality...Just a vicious, all-out war, that caused alot of blood to spill and alot of heart...to be put to the test...
On this one fearless Saturday Afternoon, Danny's team, the Rico Stiffs, took on the older and much tougher guys, a year older than them...The Rico Stiffs were big underdogs that day...but all of those guys, were having nothing, with anything short of victory...
That crazy bunch of kids playing for the Rico Stiffs...included Danny Moody, Chico, Luke Bailey, John Bar, Brady, Viv, Pat Collins, Terry Moore, Bob Howser, Tommy Walsh and Paulie Collins in the nets...Just a collection of cocky, knock-em, drag-em-out, rag-a-muffins, who could all smell victory in the air...after spending years & years in torment from their older foes...
You couldn't tell these Rico Stiff guys, nothing...They just oozed confidence, despite the other team, just loaded with much bigger & much stronger guys...It was shaping up to be a killer showdown, that the whole neighborhood was excited about...Man, talk about a battle royale...
The honorable Rich, our Park Instructor and referee...knew he had alot to handle for this match-up, but hell, he always liked to see things, just play out...fast & hard...and let the fellas tear it up...
And, of course...on that day...They stuck my brother Dan, on the most fearsome, dirty player, in the league. The most hated bully in the neighborhood...A monstrous dude named Thad, who wore a red bandana and had a huge, handle-bar mustache...
This thug, Thad, really was a splitting image of a more menacing Hulk Hogan.
This Norweigian strongman's whole deal was to plant himself, in front of the opponents net, and just dominate every aspect of anything happening in that vicinity...And Thad, incidentally, was a key, to his teams success...who usually just ferociously crushed opponents, into submission, left and right.
There they were, Dan & Thad, planted firmly in front of the net...an all-out war of position, as Thad just hacked away at every square inch of Danny's body, with his stick...over and over, again...
And each time, Thad would hack away, Danny just would grimace and fight back even stronger, just pummeling Thad, out of the way...even though Thad was twice as big as anyone, in the league.
Danny just got meaner and meaner, even though the welts and bruises were mounting and mounting...as a throng of hundreds screamed at all of the wild action, from just yards away. Bodies were flying, everywhere, as the intensity of this game, just grew and grew and grew...
Just a thunderous roar, of screaming and excitement, ripped thru the air, as Bob Howser of the Stiffs, went top-shelf, with a fleeting, wicked wrister, into the nets, giving them the lead, 1-0, on a penalty shot...after Thad had broken his stick across Dan's back, sending him flying...
That penalty shot score pissed off Thad, twice as much, with only 10 minutes left in the game, now frantically, bashing and bashing Danny, constantly, desperately trying to gain some advantage...but there would be no advantage that day...for Thad...
There, amidst the hazy, dark amber hue, of the fading gym lights above, on this cloudy Winter day, everybody inside was going crazy, absolutely bananas, banging against the metal doors and pounding on the wooden floors that surrounded the gym area...
Just a huge, almost deafening, commotion, not only because they could sense an upset...in the air...but because everyone hated Thad's guts...and loved every minute of him...meeting his match...that day...
As the clock slowly ran down...into the very last few seconds, Thad gave Danny one more brutal cheap shot that sent him sprawling to the ground...
Danny just struggled back up, and stared Thad down...It was a stare... of vindication...it was the stare of kicking his ass, despite the onslaught, he took upon himself, that day,...to withstand...
And as the buzzer sounded, the fans and the players of Rico Stiff's went wild, jubilantly jumping up and down...except for Dan...who just gingerly made his way off the gym floor, taking off his shirt, ever slowly, in quite a bit of pain, to reveal, just an ungodly amount of punishment, covered in red, red welts and dark blue bruises...he had to endure that day...
Anyone there that day witnessed one of the most intensively gruesome Field Hockey games ever held, anywhere, especially there at Carrol Park...
And anyone who got to wear that Carolina Blue, Rico Stiff's, Ashburn Park Field Hockey Champs jacket, got to wear it with a great deal of pride and complete satisfaction, that they would go down as truly one of the best teams to ever, ever play...the game...
Way to go...O's...!!!...You always got the job done...!!!
(as a foot-note...Paulie Collins would like to add that he played Defense mostly, but played Goalie in the Championship Game...and my brother Danny O's would like to add that he remembers shockingly that Paulie never wore his Carolina Blue--Rico Stiffs Champions Jacket...instead, putting it into a protective covering...preserving it, in its pristine condition...You figure, these days, that Jacket would provide quite a nostalgic link back at that heady era...when those, rock em', sock em' dudes, the Rico Stiffs, ruled the neighborhood, and commanded the respect, of all those who would follow...so rapidly unfolding, yonder back....in those unforgettable mid-1970's...)
Danny could do it all, in basically every phase of every sport, with a flair, a quickness, and a determination, that just left people in awe...I'd go watch him play shortstop for the Indians in Little League up at the park...and was amazed how effortless he made every ball look that came bashing his way...
He could stab it, he could scoot it...And when he got up to the plate...He could crack that ball to any field, then scamper for extra bases...I was kinda shocked he was my brother, because he never displayed his full abilities when horsing around the house...with us...
Of course, he had excellent, excellent, first class speed that served him well, playing basketball, which would be a life-long passion....There he would go, blistering by the opposition...quickly down the court. And he had such a natural stroke, from outside...
Just money...a sweet swish...many a time...It was his element, his time, his moment to shine...almost taking over the court, with his swarming defense...and his instincts for the ball...always coming to the forefront...
If you had O's on your team...you pretty much knew he was going to unleash an intensity, that was going to make a difference...Time and time, again, he just knew what to do, without any coaching...Just a formidable talent, who took it to the limit...
And then there was football...where he would go down as a legend, in Tommy More lore...In one single game, Danny scored 5 touchdowns...count em...5...!!!...On that day, as well as others, Dan just had it all, cooking on all burners...
He was an all-star running back, who could dash and dart, fake and roll, even bowl you over...if it was down on the goal line...The day after the game, on Monday, they declared it DANNY O'LEARY DAY...at Saint Thomas More...to honor this great achievement...
Danny never cared about the medals or awards, the trophies or accolades bestowed upon him...He just loved to, flat-out, compete...Plain and simple...And as he left the halls of St. Thomas More to go on to Brother Rice...he had gained a confidence and a discipline that always served him well...throughout his life...always...even up to this very day...
See, his fiery, never-say-die, determination will never leave him...It's always been apparent that he would be successful in everything he'd do...that he set his mind to...And even though he never mentions anything about his past...You can just tell, the little kid in him...would just like to regain that strength, that speed and that agility...one more time.....
He's always going to have that competitive edge...that cannot be denied...and one of his greatest moments, that I witnessed, was up at the old Carrol Park fieldhouse, for the Field Hockey championship...when he was 16 years old...
See, in our neighborhood, field hockey, was your true measure, of being incredibly tough...When you got out onto that gymnasium floor, it was a mayhem of grim brutality...Just a vicious, all-out war, that caused alot of blood to spill and alot of heart...to be put to the test...
On this one fearless Saturday Afternoon, Danny's team, the Rico Stiffs, took on the older and much tougher guys, a year older than them...The Rico Stiffs were big underdogs that day...but all of those guys, were having nothing, with anything short of victory...
That crazy bunch of kids playing for the Rico Stiffs...included Danny Moody, Chico, Luke Bailey, John Bar, Brady, Viv, Pat Collins, Terry Moore, Bob Howser, Tommy Walsh and Paulie Collins in the nets...Just a collection of cocky, knock-em, drag-em-out, rag-a-muffins, who could all smell victory in the air...after spending years & years in torment from their older foes...
You couldn't tell these Rico Stiff guys, nothing...They just oozed confidence, despite the other team, just loaded with much bigger & much stronger guys...It was shaping up to be a killer showdown, that the whole neighborhood was excited about...Man, talk about a battle royale...
The honorable Rich, our Park Instructor and referee...knew he had alot to handle for this match-up, but hell, he always liked to see things, just play out...fast & hard...and let the fellas tear it up...
And, of course...on that day...They stuck my brother Dan, on the most fearsome, dirty player, in the league. The most hated bully in the neighborhood...A monstrous dude named Thad, who wore a red bandana and had a huge, handle-bar mustache...
This thug, Thad, really was a splitting image of a more menacing Hulk Hogan.
This Norweigian strongman's whole deal was to plant himself, in front of the opponents net, and just dominate every aspect of anything happening in that vicinity...And Thad, incidentally, was a key, to his teams success...who usually just ferociously crushed opponents, into submission, left and right.
There they were, Dan & Thad, planted firmly in front of the net...an all-out war of position, as Thad just hacked away at every square inch of Danny's body, with his stick...over and over, again...
And each time, Thad would hack away, Danny just would grimace and fight back even stronger, just pummeling Thad, out of the way...even though Thad was twice as big as anyone, in the league.
Danny just got meaner and meaner, even though the welts and bruises were mounting and mounting...as a throng of hundreds screamed at all of the wild action, from just yards away. Bodies were flying, everywhere, as the intensity of this game, just grew and grew and grew...
Just a thunderous roar, of screaming and excitement, ripped thru the air, as Bob Howser of the Stiffs, went top-shelf, with a fleeting, wicked wrister, into the nets, giving them the lead, 1-0, on a penalty shot...after Thad had broken his stick across Dan's back, sending him flying...
That penalty shot score pissed off Thad, twice as much, with only 10 minutes left in the game, now frantically, bashing and bashing Danny, constantly, desperately trying to gain some advantage...but there would be no advantage that day...for Thad...
There, amidst the hazy, dark amber hue, of the fading gym lights above, on this cloudy Winter day, everybody inside was going crazy, absolutely bananas, banging against the metal doors and pounding on the wooden floors that surrounded the gym area...
Just a huge, almost deafening, commotion, not only because they could sense an upset...in the air...but because everyone hated Thad's guts...and loved every minute of him...meeting his match...that day...
As the clock slowly ran down...into the very last few seconds, Thad gave Danny one more brutal cheap shot that sent him sprawling to the ground...
Danny just struggled back up, and stared Thad down...It was a stare... of vindication...it was the stare of kicking his ass, despite the onslaught, he took upon himself, that day,...to withstand...
And as the buzzer sounded, the fans and the players of Rico Stiff's went wild, jubilantly jumping up and down...except for Dan...who just gingerly made his way off the gym floor, taking off his shirt, ever slowly, in quite a bit of pain, to reveal, just an ungodly amount of punishment, covered in red, red welts and dark blue bruises...he had to endure that day...
Anyone there that day witnessed one of the most intensively gruesome Field Hockey games ever held, anywhere, especially there at Carrol Park...
And anyone who got to wear that Carolina Blue, Rico Stiff's, Ashburn Park Field Hockey Champs jacket, got to wear it with a great deal of pride and complete satisfaction, that they would go down as truly one of the best teams to ever, ever play...the game...
Way to go...O's...!!!...You always got the job done...!!!
(as a foot-note...Paulie Collins would like to add that he played Defense mostly, but played Goalie in the Championship Game...and my brother Danny O's would like to add that he remembers shockingly that Paulie never wore his Carolina Blue--Rico Stiffs Champions Jacket...instead, putting it into a protective covering...preserving it, in its pristine condition...You figure, these days, that Jacket would provide quite a nostalgic link back at that heady era...when those, rock em', sock em' dudes, the Rico Stiffs, ruled the neighborhood, and commanded the respect, of all those who would follow...so rapidly unfolding, yonder back....in those unforgettable mid-1970's...)
Friday, December 5, 2008
4th Grade & Eddie Bar & Co.
...Back to my olden school days at Saint Thomas More...I pretty much flew thru 3rd Grade unscathed except for my first introduction to Science...In as much, every other subject was a cake walk for me...the wonderful world of Science just baffled me to no end...and would be my consummate enemy...from the get-go...
I can recall, my first Science teacher, Mrs. Reidy, burning a sugar cube, in front of her young, doleful pupils...all aghast as the tiny white sugar cube...turned black & burnt...She glowingly pointed it out, that this was some chemical change releasing carbon dioxide into the air...and on & on & on...It blew all our minds...for about 10 seconds...Then we all grabbed a handful of sugar cubes and chowed them down...releasing our own, endless sugar buzz, into the air...
After the 3rd Grade, came 4th Grade of course...and one of my most influential teachers I ever had, Mrs. Deters...came along...Nobody in their right mind, would say something like this, because she was a very difficult teacher who shook our very soul, trying to push us to our absolute limits...There seemed to be endless pop quizes...and endless homework assignments...Heck, we were turning into quite the disciplined bunch, facing her onslaught of difficult challenges...
And oh my God...How she would torment my new school chum, Eddie Barkowski, to no end...Eddie was the class clown and the most down-to-Earth kid in class...But Mrs. Deters, had this odd fetish, of grabbing Eddie, and shoving him, under her desk, anytime he acted up...Of course, you can imagine Eddie, underneath the desk, listening to the chuckles of classmates, as he was forced to linger there for 5 or 10 minutes...at least once a week...for sure...
I got to know Eddie, alot better, as I ventured off of my block and rode my bike 3 blocks North to his humble domain on 84th Street...There, there was quite a crew of young enthusiastic boys, all of them, who liked to play alot of touch football in the middle of the street...There was Tommy Kelly, the Sheahan brothers, Maggie and Eddie's 2 younger brothers, Neil & Mark...
And then you'd throw the wild Murphy brothers, John & Mike....and my good, good chum, Slim Farrell, into the mix...from a block away...and it was a great, great time...These guys had some skills, throwing themselves all about...They had a passion to compete...and several of these kids would go on to become stellar athletes growing up...
I'll throw this old flashback at you...Eddie Bar is quarterback...it is the last play of the game, and we faced insurmountable odds, because all we could do was throw a "Hail Mary" all the way down about 50-60 yards down...way, way down the block...and hope someone could catch it...Well, as you would expect, Eddie B, hurled a rope, way, way deep...just floating and fluttering into the sky as dusk was ascending upon us...at dinnertime...
There we were, sprinting down to the end zone, one last time, under the hue of the blueish glow of the streetlights that had just flickered on. All the kids came to a cluster, in the imaginary end zone...at the other end of the block, fighting for position to get at the ball, about 6 to 8 kids, grappling, shoving, screaming...as the football reached closer and closer and closer...
Suddenly, a bunch of kids collapsed to the ground...and I was there, all alone, the only one still standing there, as the warbling spiral just plopped into my hands, stinging them, quite severely. I kinda had to wrestle with the football but somehow, it just stuck in my hands like glue.
Everyone on the ground looked up in awe and disbelief...as I caught the ball, and then held it high, a victory had been sealed on this final play...Of course, Eddie B, some 55 yards away, came scampering up, jumping up and down, laughing with delight...elated with throwing his illustrious gem, and having it count as the winning touchdown...
There were alot of moments like this...for all of us kids back then...Just stuff, that sticks in our minds, for eons and eons...as impossible moments that remarkably transpire before your eyes...
It was a nice change of pace, to ride my bike, past 84th Street, from time to time...to see who was hanging out...Just running into Slim or the Murphs or Eddie B was always cool...These guys would become life-long friends, who remain some of my closest buddies, to this very day...It's funny, how none of us fore-saw any of this coming...
Back to the classroom...Mrs, Deters amidst her inescapable reign, really tried to get us to think outside the box...and have us write something different...We all kind of scratched our heads, because we didn't know what she meant...but I took up the challenge and cranked out my first writing masterpiece....MY MOM IS A CHOC-O-HOLIC...
Just the title alone, had Mrs. Deters in stitches...and it was quite a funny piece about my Mom's endless love of anything chocolate...I was introducing a new word to the English vocabulary, also, that haven't even been invented yet...CHOC-O-HOLIC...
It was quite a hoot for my Mom & Dad to read this story...too...From there on, Mrs. Deters always challenged me to write some more stuff out of the box...I think I may have also used one of my other creations, DRIVER GERM, a reference to me always getting sick and staying home from school, where I'd play with my Hot Wheels cars...just was a hoot...for lots and lots of laughs...
It was a sensational rush...to try to come up with some new words...just imagining all the possibilities out there...I loved it so much...I knew I had such a knack for it...This little spark that came out of Mrs. Deters influence upon me...would last forever...I can't thank her enough for raising my level of awareness beyond the ordinary hum-drum school work....
Even some of her pupils, still possess somewhere up in their attic...MY POETRY NOTEBOOK...a gathering of poems we were forced to create and combine into a 10 page lay-out that was then, posted into a nice cellophane cover...to make it look like it was our first little book...our very first novel, of sorts, that captured our mind-set...of the ways and days...of our 9 year old hearts...
Even to this day...most of my friends just cringe at the thought of Mrs. Deters, especially Eddie B, but this relentless taskmaster, had a little penchant for elevating our abilities to heights none of us could have ever expected...I really do appreciate that...her intensive skill and insightfulness...that almost everybody overlooks...except me...
Oh...don't go away...the heroic adventures of the great Slim & Eddie B & the Murphs & the crazy little kid from 86th Street are just getting started...as a bunch of new kids would join our gang and turn the neighborhood, completely upside-down...for many years to come...
(p.s....as a footnote...Eddie B, still remembers that pass, also, vividly...and estimated it was more like 50-60 yards...I counted it off and it was about 5 or 6 houses long...quite a long, long way...With all of Eddie's athletic accomplishments, I thought for sure, he had forgotten...His response...Not a chance...It was still up in his brain...just waiting there...)
I can recall, my first Science teacher, Mrs. Reidy, burning a sugar cube, in front of her young, doleful pupils...all aghast as the tiny white sugar cube...turned black & burnt...She glowingly pointed it out, that this was some chemical change releasing carbon dioxide into the air...and on & on & on...It blew all our minds...for about 10 seconds...Then we all grabbed a handful of sugar cubes and chowed them down...releasing our own, endless sugar buzz, into the air...
After the 3rd Grade, came 4th Grade of course...and one of my most influential teachers I ever had, Mrs. Deters...came along...Nobody in their right mind, would say something like this, because she was a very difficult teacher who shook our very soul, trying to push us to our absolute limits...There seemed to be endless pop quizes...and endless homework assignments...Heck, we were turning into quite the disciplined bunch, facing her onslaught of difficult challenges...
And oh my God...How she would torment my new school chum, Eddie Barkowski, to no end...Eddie was the class clown and the most down-to-Earth kid in class...But Mrs. Deters, had this odd fetish, of grabbing Eddie, and shoving him, under her desk, anytime he acted up...Of course, you can imagine Eddie, underneath the desk, listening to the chuckles of classmates, as he was forced to linger there for 5 or 10 minutes...at least once a week...for sure...
I got to know Eddie, alot better, as I ventured off of my block and rode my bike 3 blocks North to his humble domain on 84th Street...There, there was quite a crew of young enthusiastic boys, all of them, who liked to play alot of touch football in the middle of the street...There was Tommy Kelly, the Sheahan brothers, Maggie and Eddie's 2 younger brothers, Neil & Mark...
And then you'd throw the wild Murphy brothers, John & Mike....and my good, good chum, Slim Farrell, into the mix...from a block away...and it was a great, great time...These guys had some skills, throwing themselves all about...They had a passion to compete...and several of these kids would go on to become stellar athletes growing up...
I'll throw this old flashback at you...Eddie Bar is quarterback...it is the last play of the game, and we faced insurmountable odds, because all we could do was throw a "Hail Mary" all the way down about 50-60 yards down...way, way down the block...and hope someone could catch it...Well, as you would expect, Eddie B, hurled a rope, way, way deep...just floating and fluttering into the sky as dusk was ascending upon us...at dinnertime...
There we were, sprinting down to the end zone, one last time, under the hue of the blueish glow of the streetlights that had just flickered on. All the kids came to a cluster, in the imaginary end zone...at the other end of the block, fighting for position to get at the ball, about 6 to 8 kids, grappling, shoving, screaming...as the football reached closer and closer and closer...
Suddenly, a bunch of kids collapsed to the ground...and I was there, all alone, the only one still standing there, as the warbling spiral just plopped into my hands, stinging them, quite severely. I kinda had to wrestle with the football but somehow, it just stuck in my hands like glue.
Everyone on the ground looked up in awe and disbelief...as I caught the ball, and then held it high, a victory had been sealed on this final play...Of course, Eddie B, some 55 yards away, came scampering up, jumping up and down, laughing with delight...elated with throwing his illustrious gem, and having it count as the winning touchdown...
There were alot of moments like this...for all of us kids back then...Just stuff, that sticks in our minds, for eons and eons...as impossible moments that remarkably transpire before your eyes...
It was a nice change of pace, to ride my bike, past 84th Street, from time to time...to see who was hanging out...Just running into Slim or the Murphs or Eddie B was always cool...These guys would become life-long friends, who remain some of my closest buddies, to this very day...It's funny, how none of us fore-saw any of this coming...
Back to the classroom...Mrs, Deters amidst her inescapable reign, really tried to get us to think outside the box...and have us write something different...We all kind of scratched our heads, because we didn't know what she meant...but I took up the challenge and cranked out my first writing masterpiece....MY MOM IS A CHOC-O-HOLIC...
Just the title alone, had Mrs. Deters in stitches...and it was quite a funny piece about my Mom's endless love of anything chocolate...I was introducing a new word to the English vocabulary, also, that haven't even been invented yet...CHOC-O-HOLIC...
It was quite a hoot for my Mom & Dad to read this story...too...From there on, Mrs. Deters always challenged me to write some more stuff out of the box...I think I may have also used one of my other creations, DRIVER GERM, a reference to me always getting sick and staying home from school, where I'd play with my Hot Wheels cars...just was a hoot...for lots and lots of laughs...
It was a sensational rush...to try to come up with some new words...just imagining all the possibilities out there...I loved it so much...I knew I had such a knack for it...This little spark that came out of Mrs. Deters influence upon me...would last forever...I can't thank her enough for raising my level of awareness beyond the ordinary hum-drum school work....
Even some of her pupils, still possess somewhere up in their attic...MY POETRY NOTEBOOK...a gathering of poems we were forced to create and combine into a 10 page lay-out that was then, posted into a nice cellophane cover...to make it look like it was our first little book...our very first novel, of sorts, that captured our mind-set...of the ways and days...of our 9 year old hearts...
Even to this day...most of my friends just cringe at the thought of Mrs. Deters, especially Eddie B, but this relentless taskmaster, had a little penchant for elevating our abilities to heights none of us could have ever expected...I really do appreciate that...her intensive skill and insightfulness...that almost everybody overlooks...except me...
Oh...don't go away...the heroic adventures of the great Slim & Eddie B & the Murphs & the crazy little kid from 86th Street are just getting started...as a bunch of new kids would join our gang and turn the neighborhood, completely upside-down...for many years to come...
(p.s....as a footnote...Eddie B, still remembers that pass, also, vividly...and estimated it was more like 50-60 yards...I counted it off and it was about 5 or 6 houses long...quite a long, long way...With all of Eddie's athletic accomplishments, I thought for sure, he had forgotten...His response...Not a chance...It was still up in his brain...just waiting there...)
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