Summer of '89

Bridge avenue and the Beach, Bay Head, New Jersey. A Summer evening at "The Bridge Avenue House" or "The Castle" as some locals called this clapboard and turreted monstrosity. This Beach House was rented by a group of late 20's Manhattan money guys and some girls. This joint had countless bedrooms and always bunked a plethora of North-East maniacs.Several were from my cadre of Lehigh beer swilling pals and so I was often invited for a weekend to sit on the beach all day and pound cocktails all night. We drank at the Bluffs...(now sadly ripped down and replaced by ostentatious beach Mc-Mansions.) We ate at Spike's Sea Food, we fished from boat and beach and we slummed at Martell's Tiki Bar in Point Pleasant.
This photo dates to July 1989 and one of the huge evening post beach parties we threw. Single guys scoured the beach all day to invite affable vixens and more Lehigh ne'er-do-wells and sports showed up from all over. The Supremes and Smokey, Stones and Dead mixed with the crash of waves and the banter of Frat boy flirting and liquor fueled good natured insults and invective.
I am pictured wearing a vintage madras sport coat and standing alongside my particular friend Wighty. He is sporting a subdued striped number harkening back to Henley coats. The kegs had just been tapped and the crowd was trickling in...one of the girlfriends of one of the guys grabbed us for this photo.
Wight and I met at a Lehigh Pi Lam party when he was a Sophmore and I was a lowly Freshman....been buddies ever since that moment. He was a groomsmen at my wedding and my kids call him "Uncle Wighty." He is the guy who turned me on to white bucks...Dexters..."Touch, the girls love 'em...screw what guys say." We have bet pitch by pitch at a Phillies Pennant game,discussed Hemingway,skiied Aspen,shot birds and cheered at the Indy 500. He is one of the best.
Note the ubiquitous 9 oz. plastic cups grasped in our greedy hands....Mount Gay & Tonic if memory serves...and memory was tattered with a fusilade of drink and other diversions that night.
Bay Head town ordinance closed these gigs down by 10 p.m. But damn, around 7 to 8:30 we had at least 300 party guests comprised of tanned lovelies and sport-coated guys and 3 kegs of beer, and open bar with cheap A-Treat mixers and maybe one bag of pretzels. The buzz was delicious and the girls had no last names.

Back To Boxing

Attention Fight fans....Ardrick Butler, the Welterweight I manage,is slated to return to the ring July 29th,2011 at the Arena in South Philly. We had hoped to have him busy this past weekend but the matchmaker was not cooperative regarding opponents...so we declined. Ardrick has been training diligently and is poised for an explosive outing. If any of the cadre out there in Blogo-land wants to attend...e-mail me for details and tickets. If you need incentive, just check out Brohamas blog post about the enjoyable night he shared with the boys and I.
There really is nothing like attending the fights... a true Sportsman's evening!

One Season Ends and Another Begins

Last weekend signaled the end of my son's Ashbee Lacrosse team season. This photo of our team(minus several players who did not make the tourney or bugged out already) is after our last game at the Annapolis Father's day Invitational. Our team went 2 for 2 on the weekend and my son scored 4 goals. I was damn proud. As you know from my prior posts, I played the game for many years....as a defenseman. To watch my boy play attack and smoke a shot passed a goalie for a score is a particular thrill for me that just makes me practically levitate with pride and happiness.
The bittersweet aspect of this tournament was that it likely was my last stint as a coach. I was an Assitant Coach this year and enjoyed not having to deal with the time and effort associated with the Head Coach job. Now that my son is going to 9th grade, he cannot play Ashbee Lacrosse and hence I will not coach. It has been great to coach this sport that I love. I was privileged to know some great and talented kids, some great coaches and parents ( and some not so great parents) and see some excellent games from up close and from the inside.
Even though Ashbee is over, my son is now playing for the Summer on a Tournament team called "Philly Fever" Lacrosse. This team is a select group and has a ton of talent. The head coach is one of the Haverford School Lacrosse Assistant Coaches. As I posted before, Haverford is the number one High School Lacrosse team in the Nation...so it is a real treat for my kid to be on this team and learn and be coached by talented guys. We attended the Summer Slam tournament this weekend and our kids did great. They made it to the Semi-Finals and only lost by one goal to miss going to the final. They went 4-1 and I got to see some really good lacrosse both Saturday and Sunday and my kid had a blast being part of it....which is really the whole point.

More Junior Sportswomen

As I swelter on the streets of Philadelphia walking from my garage to the office, an e-mail is forwarded by my wife. Yesterday was middle daughter's 16th Birthday and her Counselor sent this photo from Camp. My daughter is in Virginia at riding camp for 5 weeks. It is one of her favorite places on the Planet next to the Adirondacks...30 girls...35 horses...800 acre farm, pool and pond, horse shows and drive ins, roller rink and flirting with the townie boys at the lake. She left while I was in Annapolis at the Lacrosse tournament and we were both sad about that. But she sure looks happy in this photo. Her cabin was giving her a huge choclate cake after dinner and then all 30 campers plus staff will sing.She is has become a knowledable, skilled and dedicated equestrian...and now advises she wants to be a large animal Vet and is fashioning her potential college choices accordingly...at least for now. That is a hard path but if anyone can do it she can...
I miss her but I am certainly glad she is enjoying her Summer and not suffering like me....sweating thru my Poplin suit walking back from the Courthouse or from the Garage.

etta james I'd Rather Go Blind

A couple that are dear friends of my wife and I are splitting up. Whenever I hear of divorce and infidelity in our circle of friends I invariably think of the pain experienced by the individuals. When I think of this angst and heartbreak, Etta's soulful and haunting song comes to mind. Seperation and Divorce is a tribulation for all involved and visits terrible emotional trauma on the children in most cases.
My ardent hope is that this struggling family can perservere and find the strength to cope with the legion of problems on the horizon.

Sportsman's Chronograph

The recent Father's day post over at Tin Tin's place included some discourse about Rolex watches, buying them, throwing them away in disgust, their accuracy and styling.
I posted in comments that my Rolex GMT-Master II keeps excellent time. I purchased this model 16710 used from an Estate for a very reasonable price and have had it for several years. It has served well under adverse conditions encountered in many sporting pursuits. The 16710 GMT-II was made between 1989 and 2007 and I have been told the mid-90's versions were particularly good.
The Trad maligns the relative accuracy of a Rolex he used to own.I have heard similar complaints before about older models. My GMT is "dead-on-balls accurrate" ( ID the movie quote anyone??) I set it by the U.S. Atomic Clock in Colorado via the Website and the watch will only lose a second or 3 over several months. The thing about these self-winders is you have to wear 'em all the time or remember to wind them when you put them down in favor of another watch.
Tin Tin and I met for drinks a few weeks ago but neither of us has posted about our congenial drinking and bullshitting session. Suffice it to say, he is every bit as engaging and interesting as his Posts.I hope we convene another session soon. I was wearing my Rolex that evening in Philadelphia but the subject never came up....

When Good Fans Go Bad

"Soon after the Vancouver Canucks lost game seven of the Stanley Cup hockey series to the Boston Bruins, rioting broke out. As the violence became more intense, we found numerous pictures on photo-sharing sites such as Twitpic and yfrog.

As you can see in the picture above and in the gallery below, a car was set on fire, a truck was flipped over, and when police entered the area of downtown Vancouver with full riot gear, crazed fans were throwing beer bottles and shoes at their plastic shields, according to CTV News."


The above quote from Canadian TV is but a terse description of some really base and repugnant behaviour. The Canucks lost in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals...(much to the delight of Yankee-Whiskey-Pappa of Boxing the Compass blog) and much to the consternation of the Vancouver fans. As evidenced by the picture, the fans consternation was mixed with beer and the final recipe was street riots,looting,burned and toppled cars...all the destructive antics Detroit fans perfected many years ago. This is really bad sportsmanship on a community wide scale and really childish.
Fans here in my beloved Quaker City take a lot of heat and crtiticism in the National Sports Press as boorish thugs who puke on kids and pelt Santa with snow-balls.(Indeed I did a post on this theme several months ago) Hey, we did not riot when the Eagles choked in the Super Bowl or even last year when a miraculous seeing-eye puck snuck behind Michael Leighton in Overtime to lose the Cup for the Flyers. We are riding high with the Phil's and all...but even they choked last year against the Giants...did Philly faithful turn over cars and loot stores and pelt cops with beer...nope. So, at least for now, the fans up in Vancouver are the target of media invective and commentary about bad fans....at least until Eagle's Season...if there is one...

Sportswomen of Note

Enthusiastic congratulations to Jane, the daughter of my particular friend and hunting buddy Ned. I have mentioned both of them before for their exploits in the field.
Now however, Jane has distinguished herself in serious competition somewhere other than the Dove Field(where she has already distinguished herself with her fine shooting and composure.)
Last week Jane and her pictured team-mates blasted their way to a State Championship in the Scholastic Division of Sporting Clays competition. For any of you who shoot sporting clays, you know how difficult and challenging this type of shotgunning is for even the most experienced shooter. Jane's Championship is a truly commendable feat and we are all proud of her. We are all also a bit concerned that she is really going to make us all look bad when Dove Season opens in September.Well done Jane! Ned, you are also to be commended for the time and attention, and hours of driving, it took to help get Jane to this level.

Huge Stripers and Junior Sportsman

These two massive Stripers were caught on June 5,2011 at about 1:30 P.M. off of Long Beach Island,NJ by my friend Gavin and his son Max. Gavin and I met in Law School and knew right away we had similar interests. He is an dedicated Sportsman who is passing down the traditions of deer hunting, fishing and upland game to his sons. We have waterfowled together, helped each other in our respective law practices and shared many a photo of our kids and their Sporting trophies...be they geese or fish.
This photo of Max lying 'twixt the mammoth silver sea-beasts is worthy of the cover of Field & Stream. As Gavin said when he called, the picture almost looks fake.

Lacrosse Tournament Weekend

This weekend my son and I will be participating in the Liberty lacrosse Shootout. This is a very well run local tournament featuring teams from all over the East Coast. My son will be starting Attack for his Ashbee team in the U-15 division and I will be an Assistant Coach.
Thankfully, the oppressive heat is supposed to break this weekend so the kids will have good weather for their games.

Unscheduled Event at Devon

On Memorial Day weekend we were at the Devon Horse Show on consecutive nights. On Sunday, after all the events were over, as we finished or coctails and packed up, there was activity in the Cnter Ring...The Dixon Oval. We turned to watch and it was our daughter riding piggy-back on her friend. They trotted around and we all cracked up...just the type of thing these two kids would do. When they were shooed out of the ring by security, she returned to our seats and advised: "Well dad, riding at Devon is now off my 'Bucket List'"

Courage and Bravery

Whenever I see photos of the men in Landing Craft on D-Day, I am amazed at the courage displayed by these soldiers. The intense opening minutes in "Saving Private Ryan" provide a glimpse of how terrifying and dangerous things became when that ramp went down. Today let us remember the brave souls who waded ashore and began the march to victory in Europe.

Guns and Self Defense

As reported in "MailOnline" today and from Oklohoma local carriers:

SHOOT OR NOT TO SHOOT? THE LAW of Self-defence can be argued in court but it must be proved at trial that these actions are justified.

As a general rule, a person can use reasonable force if they are genuinely threatened with an impending injury.

A person using force in self-defence, though, should use only so much force as is required to repel the attack - but no more.

Deadly force can be used to fend off an attacker who is using deadly force but not one who is using non-deadly force.
In some cases, the law recommends that the person under threat should try to flee before fighting back if at all possible.

Courts have held, however, that a person is not required to flee from his own home, the fenced ground surrounding the home, his place of business, or his car.
After chasing the accomplice from the store, Ersland then gets a second gun before shooting Parker another five times, almost a minute after he fired the first gunshot.

In court, Mr Ersland's attorneys insisted their client had acted in self-defence.
Defence lawyer Irven Box asked jurors to close their eyes and imagine what they would do if they were confronted with the same situation.
'He eliminated the armed robber,' Box said.
Box added to ABC News that the pharmacist had shot repeatedly because he saw Parker was still moving after the first hit so deemed him still to be a threat.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Chance, however, argued that: 'This defendant was absolutely not defending himself or anyone else.'
The jury responded after three and a half hours of deliberation by recommending a life sentence.
Ersland must now be sentenced by Oklahoma County District Judge Ray Elliott on July 11.
If he upholds the jury's decision, Ersland will not be eligible for parole for at least 38 years.
Ersland's lawyers said they intend to appeal.


From the Sportsman's perspective,the debate here is interesting. However, the guy clearly crossed the line when he went back into the store and pumped 5 close range shots into the head of an already severely wounded and unconscious would-be assailant. This news has implications in the world of Sportsmen as it will heat up gun control arguments.
I am not generally in favor of gun control since the hard core proponents of such legislation really want to make it illegal for me to own a gun.However, I am not against some forms of regulation, and I have trouble defending the argument that fully automatic assault weapons are Ok for anyone to own...but there are many arguments and issues all over the map on gun control and this post is really about self defense and where defense stops and agression begins.
I commend Ersland for being armed and protecting his employees and his place of business. However, when he did an imitation of a Waffen SS Obersturmbahnfurher, and pumped 5 shots into that criminals head as he lay wounded and reportedly unconscious (and probably helpless) on the floor of the store...well that seems like an execution and not self defense. Evidently, a Jury of 12 reasoned in the same way and convicted this guy of Murder. If he had not done the final act, and also not pursued on of the fleeing criminals outside the store, he may have been exonerated completely.
I have no sympathy for the deceased would-be robber.I am also sickened by the celebratory histrionics of the family of the deceased after the verdict. If you come into a man's place of business weilding a gun and trying to steal money, you deserve a spiraling lead projectile in the forehead. Indeed, if Ersland had better aim and killed the kid with his first fusillade, then he might never have been prosecuted as he would not have committed the second act.

The video from store surveillance camera can be seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSBBlEhmWNQ&feature=player_embedded

Private Clubs

This was always the problem with Clubs that did not allow women....