Monday Musings

For the last time today this season I lament on what it’s like to be a Mets fan where you come to expect disappointment although you’re not always sure how the road will lead you there. To be honest as I’ve gotten older I’ve become much more accepting and I realize that Sunday’s end-of-season loss will have no long term effects. You still have to get up for work in the morning and go about your daily routine and most of the sting has already worn off. Sports are for the most part a distraction from the mundane, a place to channel our emotions and an outlet for many to display a different side. The beauty of being a passionate fan is that winning is not a guarantee so you celebrate those moments because losing is always right around the corner. So if you are a Mets fan and feel like you have nothing to root for then join me in rooting against the Phillies…it’s the next best thing to hoping the Yankees lose.

The coolest thing about Paul Newman was he didn’t have to act cool…he was born that way and he died that way over the weekend at age 83. He played great roles in terrific films like “Somebody Up There Likes Me,” “The Hustler,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “The String,” and “The Color of Money.” for which he finally won an Oscar. However my two favorite Newman roles were a down-and-out lawyer in “The Verdict” and a broken-down handyman in “Nobody’s Fool.” That 1994 film was the last for Jessica Tandy and the two old-timers were wonderful together. It is a terrific movie and Newman I thought was at his best. Hollywood today features plenty of despicable characters who love to bring attention to themselves with bad behavior that the media chronicles….Newman’s philanthropy and 50-year marriage to Joanne Woodward were truthfully much better stories.

Despite the weather the Borough of Beachwood held their annual community wide yard sale this weekend and we were among the many who participated. You truthfully see some strange sites and my favorites are the drive-by shoppers who never get out of their car and sometimes don’t even stop. They just slow down and glance out the window, obviously in search of a particular item because when it comes to yard sales always remember….”one man’s junk is another’s treasure.”