Cleveland Sports Forum

LOL!

I referenced the "west end of Martha's Vineyard" because I thought some might think I was making an off color remark with "Gay Head."


I rented a moped from Sea's cousin (I think we decided) and rode it from the ferry through Edgartown to Chappaquiddick to Gay Head and back to the ferry one day.

There's a cool old fishing village not far from Gay Head.

JFK Jr's plane went down just off Gay Head

I used to have a little Honda when I worked on the Cape in the 70s. I remember taking a waitress I worked with over there on the ferry from Woods Hole. We rode all over, stopped at the cliffs, went shopping in Menemsha, etc. It was a great time. Katie was a cutie

J.R. wrote:I used to have a little Honda when I worked on the Cape in the 70s. I remember taking a waitress I worked with over there on the ferry from Woods Hole. We rode all over, stopped at the cliffs, went shopping in Menemsha, etc. It was a great time. Katie was a cutie

...just a groovy little motor bike......more fun than a barrel of monkeys....

Hang on tight!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viYfWqSECAk



(Brian Wilson's Little Honda)

My moped trip on Martha's Vineyard was the weekend I first watched Major League.

It was on pay per view at the Marriott in Newport RI as I flew the girl who later became my first wife in to meet me while I was working in Boston and Hartford. Frequent flier miles, and I had tons to spare.

THAT was the time I had planned to go out on The Cape but became frustrated by traffic on Saturday and said "screw it, we're taking the ferry to Martha's Vineyard."


My first wife pretty much "got" my Cleveland Fandom, and I've gotta say my 2nd wife has done so, even better.

The "Octopussy" yacht from a James Bond film was moored outside our harbor view room in Newport.

When Bob Uecker mouthed the lines, The Indians win IT! The Indians win IT! Oh my Gawd, The Indians Win IT!, tears unexpectedly welled up in my eyes.

http://movieclips.com/Nopx-major-league ... ns-win-it/

That wife understood and gave me a hug in our bed.

She did not understand though when I said the equivalent of "play it again Sam" and teed it up to play again on my 24 hour purchase.

The next day the Octopussy was still moored, and then we eventually made it to Martha's Vineyard.


With a drive by Jackie Kennedy's family "compound" en route.

The impromptu goal of my Martha's Vineyard adventure was to see every site of the reported Ted Kennedy/Mary Jo Kopechne event. I had read a detailed account of the tragedy, along with the footnotes.

I stopped at every bar I had read Ted Kennedy had visited, and then visited the site of the party where they met.


Fortunately for me, "drinking and driving a moped" laws were not much enforced in those years.

On the moped ride back to the ferry, the skies opened up with a deluge of rain and my eventual wife was admonishing me to keep her dry.

If I had been wearing a "If you can read this, the bitch fell off" t-shirt, it would have been saturated.

The bridge to Chappaquiddick got washed away a few years ago, so the only access now is by ferry.

I've seen that "bridge" twice. On the first viewing my first thought was to at least somewhat forgive Teddy Kennedy for putting his car and his passenger in the water for her eventual tragic death. It was a darned narrow one lane bridge with no lights around.

Second time I saw it, the entrance was fenced off for cars, and pedestrians were requested in signage not to attempt crossing.


On both occasions it was a place to get and realize historical chills.

Super cool, JR.


I've mentioned in years past, but I did get good chills on my first walk down the steps and into Fenway.


Especially when I first spied "The Green Monster."


"The Splendid Splinter."

Fenway pics from the last few years:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... fc0&type=1

"Cheryl's mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered turbine, chopping her sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces that fell onto a growing pile of forgotten memories."



Jul 25, 8:17 PM EDT

Wisconsin professor wins 2011 bad writing contest

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- A sentence in which tiny birds and the English language are both slaughtered took top honors Monday in an annual bad writing contest.

Sue Fondrie of Oshkosh, Wis., won the 2011 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for her sentence comparing forgotten memories to dead sparrows, said San Jose State University Prof. Scott Rice. The contestant asks writers to submit the worst possible opening sentences to imaginary novels.

Fondrie wrote: "Cheryl's mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered turbine, chopping her sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces that fell onto a growing pile of forgotten memories."

The University of Wisconsin professor's 26-word sentence is the shortest grand prize winner in the contest's 29-year history, Rice said.

Contest judges liked that Fondrie's entry reminded them of the 1960s hit song "The Windmills of Your Mind," which Rice described as an image that "made no more sense then than it does now."

The contest is named after British author Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, whose 1830 novel "Paul Clifford" begins with the oft-quoted opening line "It was a dark and stormy night."

The contest solicits entries in a variety of categories. John Doble of New York won in the historical fiction category:

"Napoleon's ship tossed and turned as the emperor, listening while his generals squabbled as they always did, splashed the tepid waters in his bathtub."

To take the prize for best purple prose, Mike Pedersen of North Berwick, Maine, relied on a thesaurus'-worth of synonyms:

"As his small boat scudded before a brisk breeze under a sapphire sky dappled with cerulean clouds with indigo bases, through cobalt seas that deepened to navy nearer the boat and faded to azure at the horizon, Ian was at a loss as to why he felt blue."

---

Online:

Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest: http:// bulwer-lytton.com/

I saw these girls as one of the opening acts for a show that had the Stones as the headliners at the old Cleveland area circa mid 60s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyGO5NRh ... re=related

I remember that song. I heard it walking in the rain. (I couldn't quickly find a live performance)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpMTpLW3rgY


The Wall of Sound. Best thought of Phil Spector I've had in a few years.
When I first moved to South Carolina 30 years ago there was a DJ who had a
Sunday evening program aptly named "Sunday Night Grease." "Shakin' Dave Aiken."

I was a regular listener, and Phil Spector was one of his regular topics of conversation as he spun music from the late 40's, 50's, and early 60's.


Listening to Dave Aiken was always a great way to end a weekend and get ready for a mental clean slate to begin the week.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh_iKmDi ... re=related


Here was one of his regular plays each week.


"I'm a Sixty Minute Man."


Great shag song.........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctSUomQb ... re=related

Oh, damn.

I was almost thinking of falling asleep.

"My Venus in Blue Jeans."

The revisionist Biography Channel has a lineup for Wednesday about "music legends" who died at age 27. By happenstance.

Hendrix, Joplin, Cobain and Winehouse.



I knew little about Hendrix real time and have not much of an opinion. I hated his version of The National Anthem, and still do.


I did make some $$ as a musician....albeit Tuba.....and in my book Joplin had unique talent for her day and deserves the "legend" label.


Cobain.....not so sure. It doesn't smell right, nor did his marital choice.


As for Winehouse, I think her "style" was borrowed much from others that preceded her.

I've always heard from professional guitarists that Hendrix was a ground breaking and great musician.

At least for now, I'm kicking Cobain and Winehouse to the curb tomorrow.

At least in the name of lack of respect for seeming quitters.