When I lived in New York City in the 1970's, I rooted for the New York Yankees.  (Go ahead and hate me if you want.)  My favorite Yankee by far was catcher Thurman Munson.  These were the Yankee teams that came to be known as "The Bronx Zoo."  Owner George Steinbrenner hired, fired, and rehired manager Billy Martin five times.  Martin got into a fistfight with Reggie Jackson in the dugout on national TV.  And Munson and Jackson had a famous rivalry.  All the friction played out in the media, who did not need to exaggerate anything for once

You don’t have to go to Boston to see good baseball this year. The NH Fisher Cats are playing excellent ball in Manchester. It costs less than a movie ticket with popcorn, and the ball park is cleaner and more comfortable than most cineplexes. I’ve seen enough games this year to recommend it to baseball fans, people looking for something to do on a date, and families looking for a clean, safe outing with their small children.

There’s every kind of people in New York, and they all get into my cab.  I drove from 4 p.m. to 4 or 6 a.m. in New York City from 1975 to 1977.  Mostly, I starved and suffered, but I had lots of good times as well.  I was too stupid to realize how dangerous it was.  The cabbies always said, “You get robbed in New York, and killed in Philadelphia.” 

The term "deserving poor" goes all the way back to the 1500's, to the "poor laws" of Queen Elizabeth I.  Those laws prescribed different treatment for people who could not help being poor (widows, orphans, people with disabilities), and. the "undeserving poor":  drunkards, debtors, and other people whose bad choices made them poor.   

For the second year, I celebrated Passover with my sister Mara’s in-laws in Erie PA, and her husband’s Reform congregation outside Buffalo on the second night.. This is where I go for Passover from now on.

I will hate the Indianapolis Colts till the day I die, or they get a new owner, whichever comes first.  I don’t hate the Colt players.  They weren’t even born when their owner, Robert Irsay, a greedy coward, incurred my undying hatred.  I’m glad Peyton Manning won a Super Bowl.  A player that great deserves a championship.  Here’s why I hate the INDIANAPOLIS Colts:

                Super Bowl Sunday (this week) has become an important secular holiday.  It’s a time for friends and family to gather, either at someone’s home or what beer commercials used to call “your friendly neighborhood tavern.”   There is so much less home hospitality than there was when I was a kid. 

 “The little book” as hundreds of thousands of professional writers know, is “The Elements of Style,” by Wiliam Strunk and E. B. White.  It’s about 85 4x6 pages long, and the first HALF, by Strunk, contains everything anyone needs to know about grammar and punctuation, clearly presented, with easy-to-understand examples.  Writers keep it on their desks for reference, and re-read it occasionally because it is the best example of the clear vigorous writing style it advocates, and the best guide to achieving it, and making it uniquely yours. 

How well can you locate the lantzman

                “Lantzman” is Yiddish for the Italian word “paisan,” or the African American dialect word “homey.”   “Locate the Lantzman” is a tribal game Jews play among themselves, identifying prominent people who are Jewish.  Bill Cosby and Harry Belafonte are honorary lantzmen.  So which people on the following list are Jewish?  (If you’re Jewish, a passing grade is 90 percent; for non-Jews, passing is 40 percent.)

                The Jewish New Year, when summer changes to fall, makes more sense, in a way, than the pagan New Year, which we’re celebrating today.  The change from summer to fall is far more noticeable than the change from winter to winter.  You have to be an astronomer to notice that change.  It will be another month or so before most of us notice that the days have been getting longer for the past month.