The Mean Streets of New York

Where Christmas Trees go to die….

So you recall earlier this season when we got our first standard New York Christmas Tree? It was a good tree; it didn’t fall down, it held the 800 lights that Mrs. Trumpet hung on it and it didn’t shed all its needles like a leper at leper colony. The downside to the tree was that it didn’t give us that “I smell the tree” when you open the door. Apparently the tree that we purchased wasn’t as aromatic and it was very fresh. In other words it wasn’t going to smell like the ones we had in the south who were cut down in August. It was a learning experience because we more or less told the tree hawker we wanted a tree that was 21 inches at its widest point. Still now that it is 12 days into the new year the trees that are on the side of the road are so aromatic and fresh smelling. Trust me when I say that you appreciate that walking down the street.

We decided to de-deck the tree the Saturday following Christmas on New Years Eve day. That day was the first day we had time and I had to keep with the southern superstition that trees have to be down by New Years Day. Before my Northern readership starts calling bullshit, I confirmed this with my fellow work cohort who also hails from the south that this tradition holds true in South Carolina. Then again we both agreed that this could be made up by parents so that kids have to help take the tree down before they head off to school. Anyway the tree was down and on the curb at E71st by New Years Day.

I walked by the trees on the street many times during last week taking the monkey heads out to pee. It wasn’t until this past Sunday that I noticed a spike in Christmas Tree carcasses. I was making my way back into the building from a trip at The Cigar Lounge Church that I saw 4 different people taking trees to the street. I asked the doorman why was everyone waiting till the 8th and they shrugged their shoulders. It wasn’t until a trip to get beer food that I found my answer. I asked an older UES W.A.S.P.’y lady walking on the street why everyone was waiting till this past Sunday to take down their tree. She, looked at me in her WASPey glasses and  remarked “My dear boy, any proper New Yorker knows that one does not remove their tree until after the tree in Rockefeller Center is down.” I thanked the woman with a “Bless your heart” and continued on my way with my 18 pack.

So there you go, New Yorkers are not allowed to take down their tree till after the tree in Rockefeller Center is down.

Tree Carcasses on E64th at Madison

Wonder when they do remove these suckers, anyone?

Lined up by our building

I bet that my former Asian neighbor still has her tree up! She had that sucker up in Mid August! But then again she had to live next to us so she did have to drink a lot of wine to cope.

I know, kind of a silly post but hey, it was a slow news week.

Funny Thing Happened at Work 1 Year Ago

“Carbunkle Trumpet there is a phone call for you.” stated the office manager who was eating bon-bons and drinking “coffee” that smelled of Kahlua *Oh I am so going to take some shit for that one*

Me – “Hello, this is CBT, what do you want?”

Mrs. CBT – “You always answer the phone that way?” *editor’s note – it is very uncommon for me to get a phone call from Mrs. CBT during the day. Text yes but phone call means something is up.

Me – “I saw your number on the caller ID and it was from your work. What’s up? You don’t normally call me in the office, who died?”

Mrs. CBT – “I was calling you to tell you to turn in your 2 week notice to EM, I got the job in New York City!”

Me – *butthole clinches a little tighter upon hearing those words “You mean the job that you just interviewed for and they said it would be 2 weeks before they made their decision?”

Mrs. CBT – “Yep!”

And there it is folks. One year to the date that this whole adventure began. I look back and still I can’t believe it has flown by that quick. From accepting the position to getting our apartment the next day, which was paramount I might add. Then telling all of our friends and family that we were “moving on up to the Upper East Side” and finding a renter for our joint on South Main. Let’s don’t forget that 1600-mile journey with me, momma and a poodle in a U-Haul that had a restrictor plate on it so we could only go 75 miles per hour to now current day. It has literally flown by. I look back on this time and still pinch myself because we certainly have accomplished a lot and I say beat the odds.

Backing up some – If you were to ask me 6 years ago when I was at a very low point in my life that could I ever see myself living in New York City, I would have told you that you were crazier than hell. I had just finished working as a carnie for MIM and went back to being unemployed but yet still had bills to pay. In those 6 years; we both made career changes, the wife got diagnosed and then kicked the shit out of breast cancer, we downsized into a condo and then we uprooted it again and moved to the city that never sleeps. Wow! That is some crazy shit you know?  This road has been bumpy at times but if you were to ask the both of us if we would do it over again I know the answer would be yes. At least for me, I bet that momma would like to avoid all that chemo and neuropathy stuff.

You have heard me reference my US friends who live in Belize and St. Thomas and how I have always admired them for what they did by moving to an island. They left the comfort of home, their friends and went down a path that wasn’t so worn. I have a deep admiration for two special friends down in Belize and their story. These two ladies left Indianapolis, left family, children & friends and started all over again in a foreign country to run a Bed and Breakfast. We met them a number of years back and have become great friends and try to see each other at least once a year. #FuckShobo (inside joke)

It wasn’t until we received an email from RDD or Shuffles that they admired what we did and how our move to New York was very similar to them when they moved to Ambergris Caye Island. I recalled looking at those words and it then hit me “Shit, why didn’t we find an employer that Momma could work for in the topics?” I am kidding by the way. I really was honored and respected those words. I never really thought about it like that.

There are a couple of you who have asked me why I refer to NYC as “that island called Manhattan” it for the above reason. We went out on a limb together and stuck our big toe in a very big pool of water. I can say that this experience has been exhilarating and scary at the same time for the both of us. Much like our friends in Belize it brought us closer to each other and made us better people.

Changing gears now – The first two months that we were living here we would both say to each other “I can’t believe that we live here in New York!” It wasn’t until the third month that it changed into “Why the Fuck didn’t we do this sooner!” Sure there are a ton of things that we miss by moving away from friends and family and it hasn’t always been smiles and dive bars. There have been some tears shed along this path but (I promise I am getting to my point) what are you waiting for? Why not do something as we say at work “Let’s turn this bitch on its head and see what happens?” I am not suggesting you move to a different city on whim, but start small instead. I am challenging you to do what you have always wondered “What if?” Let’s be honest, we all know the worst thing that can happen is that you fail. But if never try then do you always fail?

I will end this deep Hallmark post of a blog with the words of Steve Buscemi from Con Air; “Insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting different results.” Go do something insane folks, who knows what will happen.

I do love that woman! Even if I have to stand on a curb to see eye to eye with her!

And that night a friendship was born. Love you RDD and Shuffles!

I mean seriously Mrs. CBT – Why couldn’t you get a job on this island for me to sell my wares? Is that a FedEx drop box I see next to that Palapa?

Nipped this off the internet and it speaks volumes.

What are you waiting for?

 

 

New York Friendships

“Wait you are going to Philly for a One Year Old’s Birthday? You have more friends here in New York than I do and you moved up here in August!!” explained someone when he asked me what I was doing this past weekend. I don’t really know how to explain it, does this mean that Southerners are more social than people from the North? Let’s get to that debate a bit later. So how did two people uproot from their home town of 20+ years, move 1600 miles, start new jobs, and yet still have a great social life away from work? Well first of all, when we made the decision to move up to Gotham we both knew that we had a helluva friend and family network already in place. From our NYC Consigliore and all of her St. John’s classmates to the Asian Fireman and all of the NYFD buddies to even more new friendships, we really are lucky to have such a great circle of friends.

To give proper backstories way back some 22 years ago Mrs. Trumpet and OTB were drinking frozen boat drinks in Magen’s Bay in St. Thomas USVI while on a cruise. These two Brooklyn knuckleheads are trying to work their magic on these ‘southern belles’ and things were looking promising until Mrs. Trumpet looks at McNick and informs him that he has a booger hanging from his nose. Yep that was the start of the friendship with all of the St. John’s gang. On the cruise the Memphis girls meet Maria and it was on like Donkey Kong from then. We would vacation with the New Yorkers on Cruises, in Belize, New Orleans, Memphis, we even came up here for a cruise to no-where for a couple of days. I won’t mention all of the names for fear of missing one but we really are blessed to have this group of friends.

The other set of friends that we have was thanks to the guy who now lives in my old house in South Bluffs. You see RJ moved from Willow Grove Pennsylvania to be a tour bus driver at Graceland. With him came a whole bunch of ‘characters’ that I could at best could describe them. Hey Papua New Guinea Mike – Don’t worry the fountain picture is safely stored in a plastic container in the basement of our rental condo downtown. Thankfully the group of malcontents grew up, got married, started having babies and while we left RJ, Mallory, Baby Lisa Marie in Memphis we get to hang with all of his friends and expect him to start making some trips up here this summer. Again I won’t go into detail as I would probably leave one out and we know how bad one gets butt hurt when someone ‘swipes left’.

So you are thinking “hell, you guys got two great groups of friends, you are set” but it doesn’t end there. Now here is where I get two different distinct thought processes and opinions. You recall Miles from The Australian and the post I did about the people of New York? Of course you do, I still get the occasional text from my Bar Wife or Chef Stalker to see if I have been back to that bar and more importantly if he is still working there. For those of you wondering what I am talking about, from that post I reported that New Yorkers are stereotyped as cold, reserved and non-social and that isn’t the case. New Yorkers are instinctively friendly after you get past the first layer of puffy coat.

Since that post I have encountered some New Yorkers who do play the stereotype and are reserved and non-committal. With these people you have to really work in finding a common ground to build a relationship. Case in point is my Cigar haven on E73rd Street. I normally go in there to read the paper, watch a game and try not to engage in the political chat because it is like wrestling with a pig; you both get dirty and the pig likes it. We do get into some pretty good discussions there after you realize “Hey that guy who smokes $50 cigars and makes 2.4M/yr also thinks that children should say Mam/Sir to adults too.”

Sadly there some New Yorkers who won’t let you in or as I say “get up, go to work, come home & repeat” I don’t know it seems strange but I think it was a comment that one of my work cohorts once said to me that hit home. “You know CBT, New Yorkers are normally not ones to open up and keep to themselves unlike people from the South.” I took his comment with appreciation but I have to disagree. Mrs. Trumpet joined a wine club (BTW – Memphis you are doing Wine Club Wrong) and she enjoys it. I have begun friendships with some of my work cohorts and let me tell you, it is refreshing to talk about something other than work when you are grabbing a beer or bite to eat. Like I have said before a couple of times, we really are lucky to have such great friendships up here considering we are still less than a year in living here.

I leave you with an oldie but goodie saying that I have said many times before “A good friend will come bail your ass out of jail. But a great friend will be sitting next to you in jail saying “Holy Fuck that was fun!”  Keep it light and have a good day!

Oh No! Naked Guy is brushing he teeth!

Yep, I just made a “Friends” reference but don’t worry, that is about it. The building we live in here in New York takes up the front half of 1^st Avenue and is in the shape of a U. Our studio/apartment is on the inside corner so we have 2 windows; one facing East and a larger one facing North towards the other studio/apartment. Now I have heard NY horror stories of windows facing brick walls so we are thankful that we have somewhat of a view uptown and can see all the other apartments on our city block. I bet you know where I am going with this aren’t you?

With our apartments location the main window’s vantage point is a straight shot into our bedroom and bathroom.  Back when we had our condo in Memphis had plenty of windows and also a straight shot view into the building across from Main Street. Thankfully that building was vacant so we never had to worry about putting up blinds or curtains.  Here in Gotham, I think it was the first week that Mrs. CBT suggested that I may want close the blind or door when I was in the shower. I joking said, “If they are dirty enough to look, I might as well give them a show.” This started me to think so after a trip to IKEA I put up a curtain on the hallway from the bedroom to the bathroom to offer more privacy when we have our blinds up.

Well it happened folks…..We ventured out this past Friday for happy hour drinks and when we returned home for the evening the blinds on the bedroom window were still up. It was dark outside and one had many ‘views’ into the apartments across the way. I glance over and see the apartment 1 down from ours and see that dude was rocking a pair of boxer briefs while brushing his teeth. I tell Mrs. Trumpet that she may want to check out the show across the way and seriously folks I created a monster. Thankfully dude finally finished his primping routine and got dressed but I spent an hour cleaning the window from all the smudge marks made by Mrs. Trumpet. Should I really be worried that a telescope arrived via Amazon Prime this morning?  I think that it should only be fair that when I am shaving my balls next time I leave the blinds and curtain open. Sorry, I was just checking to see if you were still reading. Have a good one.

Here is the view from our bedroom of the other side of the building. Also were the show was the night prior. *Notice how clean the window is after I cleaned up all the smudge marks*

Standing in the bathroom peering out the window. Or as I say “Showtime”

Here is the view with the curtains shut. It helps in the summer when the shower is in use and doesn’t turn into steam room.

No this isn’t the view we had, I nipped this off the internet

So just remember to close your blinds.

 

You want to hear who my Grandfather is?

“Have you met any famous people yet?” This is a question that we both get from time to time from our friends. My smartass canned response is traditionally “Well yes, every time I see my reflection in the mirror!” What I love about the people of New York is that famous people are just normal people getting by in the big city. I recall a story that my friend RJ told me when he was on the foam with the Asian Firemen who was walking on the street in Manhattan one day. The Fireman tells RJ that he is about to walk pass Drew Barrymore at the intersection and RJ hears him say “I loved you in ‘Something about Mary” as they pass. Naturally it was a joke and I don’t know if Ms. Barrymore responded to him but you got to love it.

There are plenty of famous people living here in New York City and I really think it is cool that it isn’t that big of a deal. Where we live, the mean streets of the Upper East Side, we are next building neighbors to Grainbin Girl’s favorite chef, Eric Ripert, and his wife. My main man crush Anthony Bourdain and his wife Octavia live at 94^th and Madison Ave in Carnegie Hill and even though we haven’t slung beers it is just in time. Now when I do see them on the streets will I freak out, hug them, and dry hump their leg like a rabid dog? Time will tell but I do hope that I don’t make an ass of myself.  To date we have seen on the streets; Chris Robinson, Jackson Browne, Tina Fey, Alex Baldwin and I could have seen Pamela Anderson but I didn’t want to wait for her to exit ABC’s studio because, well I have already seen her video… (sorry for the bad pun) I am sure that my 3 readers have someone in their network of friends who “knows X the celebrity” and they share that information for validation. Bless their hearts.  When I say that New Yorkers are very nonchalant about famous people here is an exchange with one of my work compadres that I am still in shock and awe.

One of my work cohorts and I were talking about him borrowing my iFoam power cord and I tell J.S. to give it to me later when we all meet up for drinks later that evening. I joke “Hey both of our last names end in a vowel, I know you are good for it and won’t squelch.” That gets the conversation going toward Mob based movies and he tells us that his grandfather had a part in HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire”. He named the character’s name but unfortunately I quit watching it when I saw Steve Buscemi’s naked ass in the first season and that was enough for me. The next statement that J.S. said was a classic nonchalant New Yorker comment. “He also was in The Soprano’s show as he played one of the mobsters.” *MY EARS PERK UP*  “Did you say The Soprano’s, as in HBO’s award winning show The Soprano’s?” I ask. The next comment rolls off his tongue like it is no big deal; “Yeah, he played Junior Soprano or Uncle June. He has an apartment up near you CBT, he lives at 59^th and First Avenue.” I was without words,  my mouth immediately goes dry like I just swallowed a bag of sand. “WAIT! YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT YOUR GRANDFATHER IS FUCKING DOMINIC CHIANESE!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!”

No big deal to my work cohort, just another day sitting down with the family at Thanksgiving. Dude how cool would it to sit down with Uncle June and have a glass of wine and shoot the shit. That is what I love about this town.

Yeah, my grandfather, he was in some movies and also is an accomplished Opera Singer too! #JSSandbaggedme

It was a good couple of days of stalking our favorites with SR

He ends up missing, I am calling the tip line and telling them to check out an apartment on Georgia and Riverside Drive

And NO I won’t be stalking Matt Lauer or Al Roker anytime soon!

“Dressing for the Day” vs “Dressing for the Weather”

So I have heard that if you don’t like the weather in New York just wait an hour and it will change. Case in point this past Friday it was a ball chilling 36 degrees and yet on Saturday it was beautiful, 61 degrees and sunny!  Seriously, it was killer!  I started the morning taking the dogs out wearing track pants, Grizzlies zip up jacket and realized that it was a tad too much. My midmorning errands; dry cleaning, shoes shined, and beer run I was rocking a Northface vest and t-shirt and it was perfect. I went to the Cigar store and started noticing that all of the patrons were coming in wearing their winter coats, hats and gloves. I ask one of the regulars if all New Yorkers have blood any in their body because today was a day you could go sans the coat.  My friend informed me that the majority of New Yorkers dress according to the day and not what the weatherman predicts. “Dress for the day” that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of, who the fuck dresses for February 20^th and doesn’t look at the weather report? I would sweat my arse off if I were wearing the same clothes on Saturday as I was on Friday. Secondly, again, who the Feck dresses for the day and not confer with what the weather dude says….New Yorkers, I guess.

I did made certain if I had any projects or things I needed to get done that they were done today because it was great being outside only wearing a NF vest. Meanwhile my fellow New Yorkers were donning sleeping bag jackets, toboggan hats and wearing scarves like it was 20 below. I mean come on guys! Last week it was Artic Blast from hell and today if it were 5 more degrees, I would have been calling AJ asking him if we could have a Board Meeting via Skype. Now it was too bad that none of my favorite local drinking establishments stored all of their sidewalk tables and chairs for the winter. If they did I sure as shit would have been there having many beers.

Yep, I knew it was going to be a good day when I saw that the sun was shining on my walk to get my Bagel for breakfast.

You can’t really tell because  of the shadows but that playground is packed with kids playing their hearts out. Enjoy it kids and parents, it is supposed to be crappy by mid week next week.

The Citi Bike station on E68th street was out of bikes and who could blame people? It  was a great day to be roadkill on the hood of a NY Taxi

Come on Grandma, it is 60 degrees out, shed the coat and enjoy some Vitamin D why don’t you?

I guess I am really getting older since now I am talking about the weather as compared to being in a pub.

 

You ever seen 30 inches before? Dude, I love nuggets!

Well I sure as hell won’t do that ever again. You recall that POST where I called out Mother Nature and some of our New York friends? Well the Blizzard called Jonas came into the Big Apple and damn near crippled the city that never sleeps. Let me back up a bit; Friday morning I am getting into the elevator at work and there is a guy holding a snow board. I ask him if we are supposed to get “that” much snow this weekend and he laughs it off saying he is heading to Vermont right after work to “go shred the mountain bro!” Wonder how that dude made out and why he didn’t wait and could have done that shit in the East Village. Now we all know what happened, New York according to the weathermen, missed the biggest snowstorm by .01 of an inch.  On Saturday the travel ban was issued which meant no cars, Uber, or Yellow Taxi’s so that the Snow Plows could get a handle on the streets for Monday’s work commute.  We originally planned on hooking up with the Murphranks for snow drinks but considering they are on the other side of the tracks in Park Slope we both were afraid of being stuck if they closed the bridges or subways – which happened. So after a relaxing morning watching the pissing match between the Governor and the NYC Mayor we made our way to The Allie Way Sports Bar for afternoon beers with Caitlin (no not him her) the bartender. Snow days in New York are great, but having a snow day on a weekend is even better!

On Sunday Morning I am taking the dogs out for their morning pee when Paul, the doorman, congratulates me on surviving the second largest snowstorms New York has ever seen. 30 inches is what was recorded at JFK airport, I am 67 inches so I am glad that shit stopped when it did.

So lessoned learned, I am going to keep my mouth shut when it comes to making fun of Old Man Winter or Mother Nature. She didn’t play this past weekend. And like I said before thank God this storm was on a weekend because if it were during the week, well it wouldn’t have been pretty

No that isn’t haze, that is snow falling so fast that it makes it look hazy

Across First Avenue where people destroyed the Bread aisle

So that is what those things are used for!

Rookie Mistake, never stand near that thing when it is ‘blowing’ snow!

Yes that is when the panic started in the UES, Dr. Wine was closed due to the storm

Mrs. Trumpet wearing her 14inch boots and this is where you have to cross the street. Now I see why I needed tall boots for the snow.

At first we wondered why they plowed E70th street so frequently. Then we realized that NYP and Sloan were at E70th and York and the Ambulances needed clear roads.

If only that were sand and it was 90 degrees!

Here is Manny our building Super keeping the sidewalks clear

They had a busy night but Sunday at 8AM the streets were in good shape

Bean the Springer Spaniel’s footies were out drying

Now can someone please get this shit off the sidewalks?

 

 

Carbunkle attends an Off Broadway show

Carbunkle Trumpet did what? Did you really read that right? Carbunkle “I would rather masturbate with a cheese grater than attend a play” Trumpet really go see an off Broadway show this past weekend? Yes he went to a show but no, I wouldn’t consider this show a traditional “Off Broadway” performance. We had some friends in town this past weekend so we had a great dinner at DaNico in Little Italy on Saturday night and Sunday we attended Fuerza Bruta on Sunday. Without going into much detail, we attended an earlier show about 10 years ago and this past performance did not disappoint either. I will just say that if you are not a fan of loud music, strobe lights and a ‘club vibe’ then you may want to forgo this show. If that doesn’t bother you then by all means get some tickets, you won’t be disappointed.

Fun with a Selfie Stick on Canal Street

Running Man during the show

High Energy Show, I would go back!

Um, CBT, you drinking again while posting? What is that? It looks like half naked women on visqueen swimming in some water. Oh and this is going on 20 feet over your head too.

Like I said, this is a show you need to go see if you like high energy stuff

My Fun-employed Pool Buddy from 7 years ago!

No lies being told here, not at all!

Good to see our friends from Chicago, NOLA and Memphis. Love you guys.

 

Below the streets is a Steam Room and a Keg Party!

I had mentioned on an earlier blog post that this past Sunday was No Pants Subway rides and as much as I wanted to join the rest of the CB’s (Crazy Bastards) I figured against it. I can say that living up here you see a lot of odd things that normal people would stop, point, take a picture, and probably upload to Snapchat.  New Yorkers, they keep on walking and pass it off as just another weirdo. Case in point, I encountered a long haired European looking fella wearing cargo shorts (Shout out to my boy Jon Roser) a Tank Top, combat boots and to offset the 17 degree weather we were experiencing this morning a full length mink coat.  It was just another day on the 7 train.  

I have encountered two things on the streets of NYC that well, as much as I think that I have assimilated to NYC living, I find very odd. One item is the ominous steam vent pipe on various streets in Manhattan and I still can’t get used to. I get that ConEd still has buildings that they provide heat to and there are a majority of older buildings that have radiator heat but why all the vent relief pipes? Two of them popped up on my walk to the subway in the past month and it begs the question. Why all of a sudden do we have to vent that steam now? I would think that if it is colder then the buildings would need all the heat it can get therefore the demand would great so why do we have to heat the outdoors?

Another thing that I see on the streets of Manhattan would be the large Nitrogen tanks that you see at restaurants in the south to supply beer gas to the taps. These rather large tanks are normally on the corners of the intersections and you see a small hose running into the ground. The question that begs to be answered is “Where is this Keg Party underground?” But what really pisses me off about this is “Why the hell wasn’t I invited?” I mean come on Jo, Gary, and Chris at Baker Street Pub, why didn’t you tell me about this underground keg party? Anyway, if anyone knows why NY Streets have to vent steam and keep something cold or full of CO2 can you help a brother out?

New Pope?

We have a keg party at E73rd and 5th Avenue – Bring Beer Nuts!

Have a good day!

 

 

 

Whats a Grizz fan living in NYC to do?

You have heard my struggles this past fall during football season. I can report that the majority of New Yorkers really don’t give two shits about college football. Now I have met UConn fans (not sure how far of a road trip that is from NYC) Rutgers fans (think that is in New Jersey) and we even shared a Metro North with Fordham fans (snicker, snicker). However, watching College Football on the TV on a Saturday in NYC is nothing like it is in Memphis. The rule traditionally is (or it is at the Cigar Inn) that Professional sports trumps college football and then if there is nothing on then they will show a team that is near NYC. I have watched a couple UMass Football games this year and have given up asking to change it to watch an SEC game. Sure I could go down to one of the bars that is labeled “Official NAME OF COLLGE bar” but those bars are kind of expensive. Translation….I love my Hogs but drinking $8.00 Bud light to dull the pain can get expensive. That and we are normally busy on the weekend so maybe next year Hogs. 

Now that we are in the doldrums of the winter NBA basketball and Hockey are the sport of kings up here. Mrs. Trumpet and I got pretty addicted watching the Memphis Grizzlies when we lived downtown and if this move to NYC didn’t occur our arses  probably would be sitting in Fed Ex Forum as season ticket holders. At the start of the season we found that our Max’s Sport Bar of the UES, Iggy’s, would put the Grizz game on for us but that is 82 games.  We then feared for our livers because watching those many games in a bar can get VERY expensive. Add to that I recalled a couple of times during football season that Max would have some wildcard off the wall football game on a TV. We would inquire he informed us that some guy called and wanted to watch his beloved Slippery Rock football. We would then look at him muttering “bless your heart” so we didn’t want to be ‘those guys’ up here.  Heck we even tried that Memphis Grizzlies bar that was featured in the Commercial Appeal that is in the East Village and that turned out to be a bust. 

So what were two Grizz fans going to do? We ended up getting the NBA League Pass. That way we can sit on the couch with the dogs curse Tuohy, make fun of Rob Fischer’s outfits and listen to Memphis commercials. It was a win-win for us, or at least we thought so. The Grizz aren’t doing that well and my mantra turned into “If I wanted to watch a shitty basketball team, I could watch the Knicks for free!” Oh well at least it keeps us off the street and from watching black-market videos from Asian Video hawkers. But let’s don’t forget that I am now a hockey fan so who knows I may start painting my face!

Wore this to work today and everyone in the office said that the color looked good with my jacket.

Tonight the Grizz minus some key players take on The Rockets

When I want people to feel sorry for me and let me sit when on the subway because I am ‘special’ I wear my Grizz gear. I would wear Bama Football Gear but they may mistake me for sleeping with my family and that I got the shirt at Walmart.