Always on my mind…

Though I don’t post as often as I once did, I can tell you the blog is (for the most part) always on my mind. As for other things on my mind…

*Charles Oakley. I have to admit, I love the man. Never met him. Don’t actually know him. But I love him. He’s my favorite basketball player… ever. If you ask me who I think the greatest player ever is, I’ll usually say Magic Johnson (sometimes MJ… possibly Wilt… but usually Magic). If you ask who my favorite player is, I’ll say without hesitation, Charles Oakley. Recently he was removed from Madison Square Garden. By removed, I mean it took 6 (7… 8?) security guards to remove him. As I tweeted, I’d quit my job as MSG security before I’d go tell Charles Oakley he had to leave.

*Other things I’d do before telling Oakley he had to leave (or had to do anything, for that matter) include: fly overseas; take a small boat on a cross-Atlantic trip; move to California (or any northern state); become a long-haired hippie… I think you get the point.

*It seems Oakley’s troubles have to do with someone named James Dolan. Like you, when I first heard the name “James Dolan” I thought… Who the hell is that? Seems he’s the owner of the New York Knicks (the team of my youth). If one were to look at what Oakley did for the Knicks during his career and then look at what Dolan has done for the Knicks… well, it wouldn’t be hard to see why all Knicks fans seem to be supporting Oakley.

*I have two nieces about to graduate in a few months. This leads me to question how Sonny and Teresa Lynn have gotten so old while I have managed to stay so young.

*I hope to post pictures soon of where we are in the building process for the new I’m just sayin… offices.

*Retired Army Lt. General Hal Moore, Jr. passed away last week. Don’t know who that is? Read We Were Soldier’s Once… and Young (and/or watch the movie We Were Soldier’s Once.

*Some of my favorite Super Bowl commercials included commercials for Buick, Bai, Honda, Transformers, Boeing SC, NFL (football is family), Kia Niro and Bud Light.

*Sonny talked on his blog the other day about the meaning of “goat” (at least in a sporting contex) being different now that it was when we were growing up. I agree completely… and like Sonny, I was thrown off the first time I heard it used in a good way. I was also confused the first time I heard this sign # called a hashtag. I grew up calling it a number sign or a pound sign. I’m still not real sure why it’s now called a hashtag.

*Growing up, the most famous Russians I knew were “The Russian Nightmare” Nikita Koloff, “The Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff, Krusher Khruschev, Vladimir Petrov and Ivan Drago. Ivan Drago was the “bad guy” boxer in Rocky IV… the other men were professional wrestlers. It wasn’t until later in life that I learned none of these Russians were actually from Russia (I, of course, knew Ivan Drago was a character in a movie… but the actor looked Russian to me). So… Nikita Koloff (Nelson Scott Simpson) is from Minnesota; Ivan Koloff (Oreal Perras) is from Canada; Krusher Khruschev (Barry Allen Darsow) is from Minnesota; Vladimir Petrov (Al Blake) is from Minnesota; and Ivan Drago (Hans “Dolph” Lundgren) is from Sweden.