Archives for November 2015

In the late 1980s’ I had the good fortune to meet Berra. I met him in the locker room at a golf club in New Jersey where he was a member. It was years after his playing days yet I was still so pleased to be introduced to him. Truly for me he was a sports legend.

LA
=====================================================================================  

Just some thoughts:

One of the things that come with aging is the sadness you feel with the passing of the various famous people, such as movie or sports stars that have been a part of your youth. Such is the case for me with the passing (September 22, 2015) of New York Yankee Hall of Fame member, Yogi Berra. Berra died this past week at the age of ninety.
 
You had to love Berra and for many reasons. He was an outstanding athlete who played baseball,   but there was physically very little that one would associate him with athletic ability. He did not fit the model of most athletes. He was far from handsome or good looking. He was notorious for swinging at bad pitches. But the bottom line with Berra was that he got the job done. Maybe not in the style or flash of his teammates like DiMaggio, Mantle or Maris.
 
Berra was also famous for his sayings. They became known as “Yogisms,” such as:

​“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
“We have a good time together, even when we’re not together”
“Public speaking is one of the best things I hate.”
“He’s learning me all his experiences.”
“Don’t get me right, I’m just asking.”
“Why buy good luggage? You only use it when you travel.”
“It gets late early out here.”
“So I’m ugly. So what? I don’t hit with my face.”
“Usually when you get one of these, you’re dead or gone.”
“I love movies when I like them.”
“The future ain’t what it used to be.”
“I usually take a two-hour nap from 1 to 4.”
“Never answer an anonymous letter.”
“We made too many wrong mistakes.”

​One of my favorite Yogi stories is Berra was attending a very formal affair. He was dressed in a tux and a lady walked up to him and said, “Mr. Berra you sure look cool.” Berra thought a moment and then said to the lady, “Madam, you don’t look so hot yourself.” Now think about that one.
 
I guess the one that I will long remember of all of the things Yogi ever said is one that has to do with marriage. Berra and his wife, Carmen were married in 1949. Berra was once asked to what he would attribute his long and good marriage. His answer:

      “Well I just never wanted to disappoint or embarrass her.”

Pretty solid marriage advice.  
​=========================================================================================

September 24, 2015
Keep on,
​Larry Adamson

Just some thoughts:

Something I wrote on January 15, 2014 upon learning of the passing of Phil Everly. The Everly Brothers help us (a generation) with broke love “Bye Bye Love” and to deal with some matters that we could only dream (Dream, Dream) about…and maybe still do.
​=======================================================================================

Phil Everly of the Everly brothers died earlier this month, January 3, 2014.Tonight I have been reminiscing about the brothers and playing their music.
 
1962 was the year “When I’ll Do My Crying in the Rain” became a hit for the two brothers, Don and Phil. As I sat at my desk listening to the song I remembered that I was starting my sophomore year in college. If I listened and played that song once, I must have played it a thousand times.

“Crying in the Rain”
 
I’ll never let you see
The way my broken heart is hurting me
I’ve got my pride and I know how to hide
All my sorrow and pain
I’ll do my crying in the rain
 
If I wait for cloudy skies
You won’t see the rain from the tears in my eyes
You’ll never know that I still love you so
Though the heartaches remain
I’ll do my crying in the rain
 
Raindrops falling from Heaven
Could never wash away my misery
But since we’re not together
I look for stormy weather
To hide the tears I hope you’ll never see
 
Crying, crying in the rain
Someday when my crying’s done
I’m gonna wear a smile and walk in the sun
I may be a fool, but then darling
You’ll never see me complain
I’ll do my crying in the rain
 
(Carole King and Howard Greenfield) 

The drift of the song has to do with hurt. If we are honest when it comes to our emotions, we’ve all been hurt and had our pride stripped from us. It can happen at a very early age and continue through all of life. For instance the kid who cannot perform a skill as well as another in class or on an athletic field, or maybe the one who continually falls while others have successfully mastered  learning to ride that bike. Then as we start to grow up the real hurt from failures and emotions come; a broken relationship, that job we didn’t get, you name it. We are hurt and we don’t want others to see it so we “do our crying in the rain” and find ways to cover hurt and hide the pain and disappointment.
 
I am sad tonight for the passing of Phil Everly. I will always remember the Everly Brothers and I imagine in most of us there has been or will be that time “when we cried in the rain.” Rain and pain like that seldom ever completely leave us.
 
I hope that within each of us time allowed us to once again wear a smile and walk in the sun. 
============================================================================================
January 15, 2014
Keep on,
​Larry Adamson

Below is something I wrote in January of 2009. 1979 was quite a year for the Indiana State Sycamores and for the city of Terre Haute.
​
The above picture is of the the arena at Indiana State University and taken during the glory days of Larry Bird and the Sycamores.
===================================================================================== 

​Just some thoughts:

To play the game is great…
To win the game is greater…
But to love the game is the greatest of all…
 
Plaque in the lobby of the Palestra Basketball arena in Philadelphia

Recently, we returned from one of our basketball junkets; something my oldest grandson and I have been doing since he was about 10 years old. He and I go to Indiana during Christmas holiday season to see some high school and college basketball games. On this junket we only, “only” got to see fifteen games. That’s fifteen games in three days.
 
Being from Indiana I have been a witness to and have heard many stories over the years that illustrated how much people in Indiana have a love and a passion for the game of basketball. I was told a story I had never heard before.
 
In 1978 Indiana State University was hosting Wichita State, and the game was the first game to be nationally televised featuring the legendary Larry Bird. Al McGuire and his cohorts would be broad-casting the game on a prime time major TV network. A few hours before game time, a major snow storm set in over Terre Haute, Indiana, where the game was to be played. Snow began to accumulate on the roof of the ISU arena, and the roof began to leak down on the playing floor. Big problem!
 
If this snow continued and the roof kept leaking, it could hamper the playing of the game. A couple hours before tip-off, the problem was announced over the arena’s loudspeakers. Another announcement followed, “At this time, we are asking for volunteers to go to the roof of the arena and help with the snow removal.” Yes, you heard me, “Go to the roof and help with the snow removal.” Hey, folks, it isn’t 70 degrees outside. Have you ever been on top of a tall building with the wind blowing and a shovel in hand throwing snow off the roof?  It is the dead of winter and they are asking for volunteers to do that. Are they nuts?

​Within ten minutes of that announcement, a second announcement was made; “We no longer need any more volunteers to help with the snow removal. We now have enough help.”
 
The snow was removed, the storm lessened and the ball was in the air at the scheduled tip-off time.  Folks in Indiana like their basketball, and they will go to great lengths to see that it is played.
 
 “I had heard folks in Indiana loved basketball but this is truly amazing.  Maybe even crazy.” The words of Al McGuire.

The picture below is of the Palestra in Philadelphia another great place to see basketball.

                             
                                            “If all you care about is winning, then you aren’t really a fan.”
                                                                              (Andy Rooney)
===========================================================================================
January 2, 2009
Keep on,
​Larry Adamson

Just some thoughts:

 ​How would you greet an old girlfriend or boyfriend should you have the opportunity to meet again? What would you say?
 
In 1825 Josiah Quincy was asked to take his great-aunt, Hannah Lincoln Storer, to visit someone. The someone was former President John Adams. Hannah Storr had buried two husbands. She was nearing her ninety-first birthday, as was President Adams. Adams once described her in his diary as “flirtatious;” and it was told in some stories that he almost proposed to her.
 
Now keep in mind these are two ninety-plus year-old folks meeting once again. When Hannah entered the room where Adams was sitting his face immediately lit up. “Why, Madam,” he greeted her, “Shall you and I go for a walk in Cupid’s Grove together?” “Ah sir,” she replied, “It would not be the first time you and I have walked there.”
 
Hannah must have been quite a flower in her time and ole’ Johnnie a real dude. You know we seem to forget that old folks were young folks once upon a time.
 
Wonder what you or I might say upon such a meeting with one from our past? Hum… a walk in Cupid’s Grove?
​====================================================================

Just some thoughts:  

The first time my family and I moved to Tennessee was in 1976. We lived there three years before moving to New Jersey. The father of the real estate lady we worked with was a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Her father was Kirk McGee and he and his brother, Sam McGee, were famous  pickers from the late 1930’s. By the late 70s’ Sam had passed and Mr. Kirk’s health was failing to the extent that his daughter (the estate lady) did not like him driving at night. The many nights he played the Opry I was asked and had the good fortune of being his driver. I loved every minute of it. Most nights I would spend a great deal of the time just sitting in Roy Acuff’s dressing room, visiting and watching. It was like Grand Central Station and a choice place to be. I never will forget the night Gene Autry walked into the dressing room, which is a story for another time.
 
During that time I belonged to a tape club that primarily taped to disabled folks. You taped and shared music, talked “letters, etc. For years I had done such with a blind man named Bill in West Plains, MO. Bill loved country music and he loved the Opry, but had never been. One fall my wife and I invited Bill to come to Nashville for a week-end. He was welcome to stay at our house and we would be responsible for getting him about; so Bill and his friend rode a Greyhound bus from their home in West Plains, MO to Nashville. On the Saturday evening of his stay I had made arrangements with some of my connections to get Bill, his friend he brought with him and me to sit on the stage of the Opry. They were like kids in a candy shop. While sitting on stage with them I told them I needed to go backstage and I would return shortly. I went to Acuff’s dressing room and told him of the two blind fans of his, and how they had made their way on a bus to Nashville to visit the Opry. I asked Mr. Acuff, “May I bring them by your dressing room for a very quick hello?” I will never forget Acuff’s reaction. His answer was “No, no don’t move them, let me get on your arm as I don’t see too well in these dark hallways, and you take me to meet them where they are sitting.” There is no way to describe Bill’s and his friend’s reactions and emotions when I said, “Fellas, there’s a gentleman here who wants to say hello and express his appreciation for the trouble you have taken to be here tonight.” They were practically speechless when meeting Mr. Acuff.

That night when Acuff came on the Opry for his half hour segment, he further honored Bill and his friend by saying, “Folks, a few minutes ago I met two blind gentlemen who have ridden the bus from MO to be with us tonight, so I want to decidate this song to both of them and thank them for their time and trouble.” With that, Acuff went into his famous “The Wabash Cannonball.” 

Over the years I’ve dealt with a number of celebrities but none could have been more thoughtful and kinder to their fans than Mr. Acuff was on that evening. Even today when I hear or play that song, I think of the time he made the evening special for two blind men.

Roy Acuff passed away twenty-one years ago on this date, November 23, 1992.   
=====================================================================================
November 23, 2013
Keep on,
​Larry Adamson

The above picture is of the gym in Frankfort, Indiana. It was built in the early 1960s’. I spent seven years teaching and coaching in that school system. Some of my greatest sports memories took place in that gym. I was fortunate to be a very small part of Coach John Milholland and his teams in 1972 and 73 when they won Indiana high school basketball sectionals. The movie “Blue Chips” was filmed at this gym.  The first team picture is the Frankfort team winning the 1972 Sectionals. The second team picture–well that goes all the way back to 1960 my senior year in high school. The picture is of the Pimento Peppers that year. No we never won a sectional. Take a close look at #40.  
​=======================================================================================  

Just some thoughts:             

​I love basketball
I love everything about it
I love the feeling of looking for a win on Friday night
And the feeling on Saturday morning when you’ve found it

I love that quote because it genuinely reflects my feelings about basketball. I have taken a bit of liberty with the quote as it is actually from the movie, “Radio,” and I exchanged the word football and replaced it with the word basketball. By the way, excellent movie.
 
The first basketball game I can remember was in 1947 when I was five years old. On top of an old Cromwell refrigerator in my parent’s kitchen sat a small radio. I remember that game being broadcast on the radio on a Saturday afternoon. Terre Haute Garfield playing Shelbyville with Clyde Lovellette vs. Bill Garrett.  I have been following basketball for sixty plus seasons. Each year I see firsthand fifty to sixty games.
 
In my friend Mike Lunsford’s book “Sidlines”he gives many reason why he likes the the sport of basketball. I feel very much like Mike.

“I like to hear kids sing the national anthem before ball games. There’s something strangely reassuring about that. I like coaches who coach, players who work hard, and cheerleaders who truly care about what’s going on in the game.
    
    I like it when little kids sit behind the team benches, dreaming, perhaps, that someday they’ll be on it. I like high school bands, full-court presses, and good popcorn.
 
    I like to sit near the old-timers: the ones in cardigans who played as boys or at one time  coached them. They still X and O, but more than that, they use the games as vehicles to their pasts. They remember an age when warm-up were wool, trunks were satin, and dribbling around dead spots in warped floors was routine.They still treat each game as both  reunion and renewal.
 
    I like good free throw shooting, cross-county rivalries, and warm gyms on cold nights.
    I like to find the players who’s always looking for the open man, and I love to listen to
    games on the radio. I like upsets, and I like to wander past team photos from the old
    days mounted on the gym wall, the row of skinny legs and bony chests standing
    there mute and proud.
 
    I don’t care for coaches who perform for the crowd; cheerleaders who are more
    concerned about their hair than the score; kids who run up and down the bleachers 
    dripping a variety of goos on my jacket, lazy players; black athletic socks; and
    chest-thumping.
 
    I hate taunting and ballhogs; cold gyms and warm cokes. I don’t like faking the charge
    and I cheer when whiners lose; I still can’t understand why the hook shot and jump
    ball are dead.”

“Naismith’s game is nothing more than the silly business of
throwing an inflated bag through a hoop.”

​Shame, shame on that writer.
===========================================================================================
November 4, 2009
Keep on,
​Larry Adamson 

The above picture is of the main hallway in my old high school in Pimento, Indiana. The building and hallway are now both in sad disrepair. I can still remember–the room on the left that was the English with Mrs.Riddle. Second room on the left the math room and the last room on the left History. The first room on the right typing with Mrs.Pitman and the last two doors on the right were into the study hall and the library. The other pictures are of the current status of the old high school. Sad.
===========================================================================================
​
Just some thoughts:

​ “I love driving down their streets and having the townspeople wave and say hello. I love the community spirit you see in these little stadiums, the smell of the hamburgers and hotdogs cooking on the grills to be sold in the concession stand by members of the booster club, and the public address announcer’s saying things like ‘all students are welcome to the fifth-quarter gathering that will be held at the education building of the First Baptist Church immediately after the game.”

Carlton Stowers: Where Dreams Die Hard

​Often I have wondered just how much better things have been with school consolidations.
 
Now before someone takes me apart, I don’t have all the answers to that question. Possibly it was best that many small schools in various locations did close and consolidate with a larger system. But I also think sometimes folks fail to realize the cost, and I am not referring to the financial cost. I am talking about the kind of cost that cannot be measured in dollars and cents.
 
I graduated in 1960 from a very small high school in southwestern Indiana. How small? Well my graduating class had twenty-seven, and that was the biggest class of the upper four grades. The following year it closed and consolidated with a larger school just a few miles away. A few years later consolidation again took place and where there once were fifteen or so high schools in that county, now there were only two. Small schools gave youth the opportunity to participate in many activities such as school plays, clubs, cheerleading, bands, and various athletic teams where the odds and the opportunities in a larger system would not. A case is often made for consolidation saying educational opportunities will be better for the students. I don’t strongly argue against that, but I do note that of the twenty-seven in our graduating class, I believe ten or eleven went on to gain college degrees. 
 
In Carlton Stowers book Where Dreams Die Hard he talks of this. Stowers spent a year in a small town of less than three hundred in the hill country of Texas. His purpose was to chronicle the school’s six man football team and its effects upon the community. It was not just football, but also the other opportunities that a small community and a small school were able to offer that larger communities could not.
 
Today when I go back home to Indiana, I often drive through some of these small towns that no longer have schools in their community. I could name them; they are the kind of names that make you smile or could be a good Jay Leno reference.  Names like the Farmersburg Plowboys, Prairie Creeks Gophers, Graysville Greyhounds, Fontana Beantowners, Otter Creek Otters, Blackhawk Chieftians, Fairbanks Trojans, or the Riley Cossacks. You heard enough?  As you drive through these towns you will see buildings boarded up or sitting in disrepair, the heart of these communities is gone. 
 
When a school is taken from a community many of the people will eventually leave also. Towns are shut down, the streets have died and many businesses are lost for some who once lived in that community. As I said, I do not have the answer and would not say this should not have happened, but I am of the opinion that:

“Bigger is not always better… and new is not always best”

​                                                              (Johnny Wooden)
==============================================================================================
March 20, 2011
Keep on,
​Larry Adamson

Just some thoughts:

November 13, 2015

This week-end will begin another college basketball season for most colleges and university. Two of my favorite schools, Lipscomb U. and Belmont U. will begin their seasons on the road tonight. Today as I sat in a coffee shop in the Washington D.C. area I called the coach  at Belmont U. {Rick Byrd} to wish him well as he begins another season. I think it might be good for us as fans to remember some of the sayings of the late Al McGuire as another season begins.  

LA

================================================================================ 

For some unexplained reason I always had a fondness for basketball coach Al McGuire. He coached his last game in 1977 as his team Marquette won the National Championship. He went on to have a very successful career in sports television. He once was described as a curbside philosopher.  I liked that McGuire never took himself too seriously. He never thought of himself as a celebrity or something special. He stayed close to his blue collar roots and me having grown up with lthose roots maybe that was a part of my fondness. He lived in the same house from 1964 until his death. He had the same telephone number, drove the same non-de -script car, loved to ride his motorcycle out in the country, liked to take long walks and gave back much of his time and money to charitable causes. His idea of breakfast was to meet his friends at McDonald’s for Egg Muffins. He had a great wit and some great sayings such as:

“Go barefoot in wet grass” –
“Congratulate the temporary”-winning is only temporary a lot of other things are more important
“I’m not ashamed of crying I just want to cry alone”-said to a reporter after winning the NCAA
After we lost our last three games I thought the carnival gates would close.”
“Life never depends on anyone else but yourself.” 
“Sports is a coffee break.”
“There’s got to be more to life than hangin’ up jock straps.”
“If you don’t stop to see what’s at the side of the road you might miss something.”
“Never use words that a shoeshine boy can’t understand.”
“You can always tell the Catholic schools by the length of their cheerleader’s skirts.”
“Never be afraid to make a fool of yourself.”
“Ray Meyer has been around so long that he held the ladder for Dr.Naismith when put up the first peach basket.”
“No one negotiates for me.”
“Stretch out the day, live for the moment, and make every day just a little bit more special.”
“If you see me dressed in a suit talking to more than four people someplace, I’m gettin’ paid.”
“Winning is only important in war and major surgery.”
“Being truthful is not always the nicest thing in the world—you’re better off treading water with  
some room to move.”
“I’m a positive thinker but I always thought I’d come in second.”
“I don’t dodge problems, but I don’t create problems.”
“Always put a little back in the kitty.”
“You don’t kiss the cheerleader and shake hands of the parents until the game is over.”
“You can’t get a sense of humor or common sense from a computer.”
“Dance Hall player.” –McGuire’s description of himself—short on talent long on effort
“Even the mice were hunchbacked.”Description of the small room in which he once lived
“All love affairs end. Eventually the girl is gonna put curlers in her hair.”
“The game in never over until the cheerleader has been kissed and the parents hands shaked.”
 
Well eventually the girl did put curlers in her hair; time came to kiss the cheerleader and to shake the parent’s hand…but my appreciation for McGuire remains.
 
Personally for me I rather quickly tire of too many of the present television basketball analyst and their over the top with so called needed information and their drama descriptions.  I always felt when McGuire was doing a game most things were going to be kept in proper perspective. Not so today.
 
 Al McGuire passed away on January 26, 2001.
====================================================================================
January 26, 2013
Keep on,
​Larry Adamson

​Just some thoughts:

I talked to Brenda Lee today.
 
I was standing behind her in line at the movie theater waiting to buy two tickets. After purchasing our tickets it was a few minutes before the movie was to begin and both she and I were standing in the lobby waiting.
 
I thought, do I or don’t I? Oh well; she was standing just a few feet away along with a young boy that I learned was one of her grandchildren. “Ms. Lee I just wanted to tell you how much I have enjoyed your music and talent over the years.” Immediately she smiled, stuck out her hand and said a very strong, “Why thank you.” I named a few songs and a few of the lyrics to some of her songs and she smiled even more. We talked briefly; she could not have been any nicer or receptive to me.
 
As I stood in the lobby awaiting the arrival of my wife (we came from different directions) I thought about my encounter with Brenda Lee. Isn’t it funny how songs stay with you even many years later. I can remember, it was 1960-61 my freshman year in college, how one particular song of hers stayed with me. My college days were not that meaningful in many ways; and especially that freshman year was not an enjoyable year for me. I can remember walking into the college grill and so many times hearing this one song of hers playing on the jukebox. As I stood in the lobby on this afternoon so many years later I can still recall the lyrics to that so often played song and the emotions that I often felt at that time. 

“Fool Number One”
 
Am I fool number one or am I fool number two
How many others have been fooled by you
I suppose that the number is far from being small
And I’ll bet that I’m the biggest fool of all
If I had the chance I guess I’d do it all gain
I’d go down that same old road even knowing at the end
You’ll leave me when your heart hears a new love call
So I’ll guess that I’m the biggest fool of all
 
(Kathryn Fulton)

​Interesting what we tend to forget and also what we never forget.
======================================================================================
January 12, 2009
Keep on,
​Larry Adamson

Just some thoughts:

I noticed him as I pulled up to a stop light. “Him” was standing off to my left a step or two into
the street. He looked like he could use a bath, a change of clothes, a haircut and a good meal. While he looked like one with a lot of mileage on him, to me it was apparent that he was not nearly as old as he appeared. 
 
Here in Nashville there are a number of homeless people that sell a newspaper called the “Contributor.” It is an effort to help give support and dignity to those less fortunate people that live among us. The paper sells for a dollar and I think they get to keep most of what they sell. This young man was doing such on this morning.
 
I kid you not; as I stopped at the light this particular song came on my car cd player. I wondered if the name (Sarah Jane) in the song had been changed to his name, how fitting the words might be on this occasion. I punched the repeat button two more times after I left the light as I wanted to hear those lyrics again. It is strange that what we see and hear sometimes gives us pause to wonder how fitting something might be. I had never, never heard of the song or the artist before. I wish you could have been with me.

“Call Collect”
 
I’ve got a message for you if you’re listening Sarah Jane.
Please don’t cause your family anymore pain
We’ve been given you this message with respect
From your family that really love you
Call collect
 
There’s a weekly show and a DJ
It goes out every night like coast to coast
Their gonna play a song for you in case you’re listen in
Why don’t you drop your mom and dad a note and tell them how you been
Ran into your mama in the street the other day
She was on her way to church again to pray
She hasn’t been sleepin’ since the night that you left town
Your family don’t think for a minute that you let them down
I got a message for you if you’re listen’ Sarah Jane
Please don’t cause your family anymore pain
We’ve given you this message with respect
From your family who really loves you
Call collect
 
I haven’t written much of this since I don’t know when
But the most important things are you and them
They don’t care what you said or what’s happen to you before
Even better still why don’t you just come on home to them
I got a message for you if you’re listening Sarah Jane
Call collect
 

As I pulled away from the young man selling papers, I thought that was the most ($10) I have ever given someone for a newspaper. But more importantly, I wondered what has happened in this young man’s life to put him where he is today.
 
Hum… just maybe there is someone somewhere from his past that also wishes they would receive a “Call Collect.” 
============================================================================================
November 11, 2014
Keep on,
​Larry Adamson