October 27, 2003

Wasuppee!

    Saturday night, I took a chance on driving past Yankee Stadium after the Yanks 2-0 loss to the Marlins
to end the World Series. I was on my way up to Yonkers to hang with Mary, Sheila and the crew from the
gym. I was scared that I was going to be run down by some frustrated Yankee fan on their way back to
Westchester County. I know when the Mets lost to the Yankees in the 2000 World Series, I was under
doctor's orders to avoid all heavy machinery for 48 hours. I could only imagine what the folks leaving the
Stadium were feeling.

To those friends of mine who are Yankee fans, but don't rub it in my face about the Mets....

    You guys had a great season, overcoming adversity and inner turmoil to win 101 games and advance
to the World Series. The Yanks played a thrilling 7 game series against the Red Sox that ranks up there
with any of the great playoff series in baseball history. Thanks to the Yankees, there was playoff
baseball in NY, the greatest city in the world. It can be awfully dead around here when the World Series
participants are from California like it was last year. New York baseball in October, that's where its at.

To the rest of you a-holes who consistently torture me and my fellow Met fans by telling me about how
great the Yanks are and how much the Mets suck, (and you know who you are)
I just have one question for you

The f-cking Florida Marlins?


    So we started out Saturday at Four Roads tavern on Yonkers Avenue, where the terribly overrated
Paddy McGuire was playing. (QUICK- Name one other song he does besides You're So Beautiful?  
Thank you.)  Mary and Sheila wanted to bail, but everyone else wanted to stay. So the three of us and
crazy Tracy headed back to McLean. We were in Rory's for a bit, then we went across the street to
McGilligans.
    I sucked down O'Doul's and talked to Mary. Tracy as usual, was talking to a bunch of different guys.
Sheila bailed, but Trish and Siobh·n showed up. We stayed at McGilligans for a while. Then Mary and
Tracy wanted to go to Ned Devine's and Trish and Siobh·n wanted to go to Rory's. Having not hung out
with my sobriety sister in a while, I opted for Rory's.
    But I was so out of it, that I just sat at the bar and said nothing. Some guy was all over Siobh·n, and
Trish was hanging out with some girls from a bachelorette party. Even though we all got an extra hour to
hang out, I bailed at 2:30 EST, (3:30 EDT). That way I was not hungover and in perfect shape to watch
the Jets lose to the Eagles.
*********************************************************************************************************
    How many nights have I staggered through Grand Central Terminal on my way home from a night in
Manhattan? Of course I couldn't have been going through there this past Saturday night/Sunday morning
at 3 AM when artist Spenser Tunick was photographing 450 naked women for an art exhibit. The women
were positioned between the Metro North Ticket Windows, and the clock in the middle of the terminal.
    In fairness, the shoot was closed to the public, and you usually can't get into the actual terminal at that
hour anyway. But Jeez, 450 naked women? Sounds like an episode of "The Man Show"


Remembering Shane


    Without getting into the circumstances surrounding his death, I just wanted to take a moment to
remember Shane Hayden. Shane was a friend of ours from Rockaway who died October 16. I didn't
know him all that well, I only hung out with him a few times, but those few times were lots of fun and very
memorable. Probably my fondest memory was on September 8, 1996. My first ever trip to Rory Dolans.
    Mary, Patti-Ann, Lorraine (the general) Kelly, Catherine (whose last name I can't remember) and Shane,
sat around The Keaveney's house getting our drink on before heading out. We hit Rory's and all it's
drunken glory. Shane wanted to bail out and head back to the Keaveney's, so Mary gave him the key
with explicit instructions to leave it in the flower pot outside the door. Patti-Ann drove him back to
Mary's.
    I ended up meeting Mary Beth O'Malley that night, so I was there till they threw me out. After getting
Mary Beth's number and promising to call her (which I never did) Catherine and I met Mary and the
general at Kozy Korner. We took a cab back to Mary's only to find to our horror that the key was
missing. Mary and Lorraine furiously banged on the door, Catherine dug through the flower pots and
I went to the phone booth to call Patti-Ann. By the time I returned to the house, Catherine had found the
key, and Shane was fast asleep, on the couch........in his boxer shorts. That was Shane.
    Everyone who knew him liked him. He had an unbelievable charm to him. Which is why he could pass
out in your parents living room in his boxers. You couldn't stay mad at him if you tried. As sad as we all
feel now, at the loss of a good friend and a great guy, there will come a time where we'll be able to tell
Shane Hayden stories and laugh out loud again.
One's thing's for certain Shane, you will never ever be forgotten.


Happy 2nd Birthday to Brendan. (Thursday)

Have a Great Week
Bill