Travis and Taylor Got Me Thinking About This - And I Got the Shirt!

Thank you for the shirt! Left to Right - Me with Gaye Green at Sunday’s Festivities

The Superbowl – when done correctly, is a slightly enhanced version of Thanksgiving.  Turkey is replaced with everything there is to eat, and there is only one football game instead of three – but the hype is way high.  In a previous post, I wrote about wearing a “Go Taylor’s Boyfriend” shirt – kind of jokingly.  And guess what showed up at my house…a “Go Taylor’s Boyfriend’ shirt.  A shout out to the reader who sent this to me!  I wore it on Superbowl Sunday – some laughed, and some picked on me.  I often say that my friend Jeff is my “brother from another mother.” You can see me pictured here with his mom, Gaye.  We had so much fun – and she loved my new shirt.

I love anything that brings people together.  Gatherings for the holidays are fantastic.  Watching football games, UFC fights, and boxing matches are great.  And it is also great to get together to play certain sports and games too.  Cornhole went from a backyard thing to an ESPN thing.  Pickleball is the latest craze, and there will always be bowling, billiards, and darts – and axe throwing is also a thing.  When I lived in Niagara Falls, we used to do Moonlight Bowling at Bowl O’Drome on Saturday nights.  They’d turn down the lights so you couldn’t see the lanes, and only the pins at the end were visible under the lights.  And if you got a strike when there were colored pins in your pin set, they’d hand you cash…or a pitcher of beer—your choice. 

After nearly a decade of wrestling, I took up Judo at my friend Nikki Rastelli’s club in Buffalo.  We’d go live on the mat on Saturday mornings and Tuesday and Thursday nights for years.  We’d compete in tournaments all over the place – including another country (Canada).  There wasn’t a night or day that went by without guttural laughter, picking on each other a bit, and excruciating physical pain.  That was part of the deal.  In that sport, you have to accept the fact that others will try with all of their might to hurl you to the ground, rip off your arms, or choke you into quitting the match (called a tap-out). 

Left to Right: Me, Joe Tasker, and Mark Dickie - Post Am-Can Tournament

Thursday night workouts were great because after brawling for a few hours, we’d go to the restaurant next door to the club on Niagara Street in Buffalo for chicken wings.  We don’t call them Buffalo Wings in Buffalo, by the way.  They are just wings.  On Saturdays, we’d lay around on the mat or sit in the bleachers after working out and shoot the shit for an hour or so – or maybe go to lunch.  The sport brought us together, and win or lose, we had a blast.  It wasn’t like Travis and Taylor's party after the game on Saturday, though.  I read that the bill from the party that they had came out to $1,000,000.00.  Not bad, Travis.  Not bad at all. 

My son asked me not long ago if I’d let him take up boxing or kickboxing.  Imagine my excitement.  I was like, “Yes, Luca!” In my mind, I was thinking…. Finally!  I tried to get him into Pee Wee wrestling when he was 8.  Epic fail on my part.  At some point, I was going to Littleton to coach kids without him.  His uncle already gave him boxing gloves; the training will start this week.  Here is the best part…I found a place that has father/son boxing classes.  And for the record, learning how to box and actual boxing are two different things.  I am not keen on having my son get his face and head punched in, and nor am I interested in getting my face mashed at the age of 50, either.  But over the past year, I’ve gotten myself into the best shape I’ve been in for over a decade.  So, I am going to do a little boxing too.  I am so, so excited about this. 

What is important about this is that we and our kids get to have the experiences – not the ones on the football field, on the mat, or in the ring.  The party after the game (Not bad Travis), the wings after practice, the conversations while kicking back on the canvas.  Friends and relationships.  I called Nikki the other night to ask him a quick question about a match I had about 20 years ago.  He picked up on the first ring, answered the question, said miss you, brother – and that we’d catch up again soon.  Who doesn’t want that for their kids – multi-decade relationships with the best people and good memories that last a lifetime?