Violent Friday

Thanksgiving!  A time to be thankful for all the good things that have happened to you during the past year.  The time to get together with family and eat a giant cooked bird that you normally don't eat unless it is Thanksgiving.  A time to sit and watch your local high school play its rival in football then fall asleep in front of the three pro football games on TV that day. It is also a time to beat up a fellow patron at your local Wal-Mart at 3:00 am to get that last PlayStation that will most likely be available again in a day or two.  What a great holiday.

So the last comment truly isn't what Thanksgiving is about, at least I hope not for you.  I just don't get the madness that comes with all this.  Luckily in Massachusetts the stores aren't allowed to open Thanksgiving, but opening up at midnight doesn't make it any better.  If you are on social media and noticed people chiding Wal-Mart for opening on Thanksgiving and making their employees work the holiday.  The same people applauded Sam’s Club for not opening, so I guess it's a wash for the Wal-Mart Corporation.  

If people want to be away from their families, or wake up at some un-Godly hour in the name of savings, who am I to judge.  I choose not to do it and I am still able to complete my Christmas shopping within my budget.  That's just me I guess.  But do these things need to resort to violence that was reported on the news?  Now these stores are forcing local authorities to beef up their staffs during these times because people don't know how to behave themselves accordingly.

According to a website mocking this tradition called www.blackfridaydeathcount.com, there have been seven deaths and ninety injuries related to Black Friday since 2006.  One of the deaths was this past Friday when a teen driving home from shopping fell asleep at the wheel.  That is definitely a tragic ending to a perfect holiday.  Four passengers were also hurt in that crash.

• In Rialto, California a police officer was sent to the hospital with a broken wrist when he was trying to break up one of three fights at a Wal-Mart that police responded too.

• At a Walmart in Claypool Hill, Va. a man allegedly threatened another man with a firearm and then cut that man's arm with a knife "down to the bone," according to reports.  This man felt the need to bring a gun AND a knife to Black Friday shopping. 

In Philadelphia two couples got it a brawl at the mall, over god knows what, that had to be subdued by a stun gun.

Like I stated earlier I am not going to judge people that do this, it's just not for me.  I do find it funny that people complain about the lack of sleep and the craziness that goes on at these things.  To be honest I don't need to go Black Friday shopping, I get a blow by blow recap on social media of all the events.  I read them as I drink my morning coffee.

As we go into the Christmas Shopping season please be careful and if getting that last X Box One means having to fight for it, just let it go and move on.

3D

If you don't take it from me, ask my wife.

Thank A Vet!

I will have to admit that I have written this article before and I am going to write it again and probably not change much.  It's not because I am lazy or have run out of material it's because I like to honor the same people on the same day every year.  Over the years I have grown to respect our military more and more each year.  When I was a kid, it was a day off from school.  When I was a teenager, it helped me research my love of history.  When I was a twenty something hit closer as people I knew where now soldiers.

Our military deserves our support, right wrong, or indifferent.  These brave men and women volunteer to take a job to defend this great nation.  They should be commended, not condemned.  That is all I have to say about the respect our military deserves, because most Americans feel the same way I do.  As I normally do each year I want to thank these specific individuals for their service and everything they have done for this country.  If you would like to add someone to my annual list please drop me a message, I would love to honor them

Timothy MacCartney Sr. - United States Army
Timothy MacCartney Jr. - United States Army
Ron Scarborough Sr. - United States Air Force
Michael Scarborough - United States Air Force
Ron Scarborough Jr. - United States Marine Corp
Derek Gordon - United States Marine Corp.
Cary MacCartney - United States Army
Craig Tomanini - United States Army
Jill Murray Wildt - United States Marine Corp.
Sam Wildt - United States Navy
Don Mason - United States Army
Eric Catalanotti - United States Army
Robert Catalanotti - United States Army
Justin LaMonda - United States Marine Corp.
Denny Brigley - United States Army
John Finneron - United States Army - P.O.W. World War II
David Layman - United States Navy
Dan Thibodeau - United States Marine Corp.
Kim-Cameron King - United States Marine Corp.
Mary McCue - United States Marine Corp.
Rusty Williamson - United States Navy
Nick Fortunato - United States Navy
Paul Dell'ovo - United States Air Force
Paul Vigneault - United States Navy
DJ Gentile - United States Coast Guard
Glenn Peacock - United States Coast Guard

Thank you!

3D
If you don't take it from me, ask my wife

A True Baseball Unsung Hero

Saturday (Nov. 2) was a bittersweet day for me.  As I sat down to watch the "Rolling Rally" to honor the tremendous job that the Boston Red Sox had done this season to win the World Series, my spirits were dampened. I received a call from one of my best friends and he told me that the man we had worked with to help run the East Side Babe Ruth had passed away on Friday night.  Richard Zellmer was a man synonymous with youth baseball in this city that nobody knew, and he was ok with that.

I first came across Rich when I was eight years old playing in the Jack Barry Little League and he was a coach of an opposing league.  As I continued to grow up and play baseball Rich was always there coaching a team, with his wife Judy in tow.  They were always in it for the kids.  When his children stopped playing, he didn't stop coaching.  When I became a coach in 1991, there was Rich in the opposing dugout.  We had many battles on the field, but always had each other's respect.

When I became an umpire in 1997 I worked many Babe Ruth level games and Rich and I crossed paths again, and as always his wife Judy was there to support him.  The following year Rich took over the reigns as President of the East Side Babe Ruth league, a title he held until this past Friday.  We always said he would die doing work for the East Side Babe Ruth League.  I never imagined it would happen.

I was honored when Rich asked me to be one of his league administrators some years back.  That was when Rich was no longer a mentor but became a friend.  We had many conversations over the past twenty plus years, some joking, some serious and some heated, but we always had each other’s respect.

Being the President of the East Side Babe Ruth League, or any youth league for that matter, is a very thankless job.  That didn't matter to Rich, he wasn't in it for the accolades.  As Rich's health deteriorated over the years he became less visible at the field and some parents didn't know who he was.  He was the man that made that league go, he was the man behind the curtain, the one nobody paid attention to.

Each year the league faced it's own viability, dealing with some players whose parents could not afford to pay the registration fee.  That didn't matter to Rich, that child was going to play and the league was going to run.  He made it work every year no matter what.  He always dealt with the Parks Department and other City administrators to make things work for the league.  He wanted to create as many opportunities for kids to play baseball, no matter what obstacles it created for him.  Throughout all of these efforts was his wife Judy.  She supported her husband in every sense of the word.

As I moved up through the baseball umpire ranks, got married and started a family, my presence at the baseball field has waned.  I am still part of the league but in a planning way.  However, my friendship with Rich and Judy and their three sons Richard, Steven and Kevin has grown stronger.  We have become more of a family rather league colleagues.

I will miss Rich and everything we have done together.  I truly hope the former players, parents, and coaches appreciate what the man had done for baseball on the East Side of Worcester.  I know I will.

 God Bless you Rich.  May you rest in peace.

3D

If you don't take it from me, ask my wife.