Oscar Madison Here...

Did you ever see the play, movie or television series The Odd Couple? Great movie and TV series, I never saw the play, but The Odd Couple was written by Neil Simon, who is an awesome playwright. I've seen a few of his shows on Broadway and I think all the movies that were then made from his plays. He won the Tony Award for Best Author for The Odd Couple.

Walter Matthau played Oscar Madison in both the Broadway play and the movie, also received a Tony for Best Actor for his Broadway performance. Jack Klugman replaced Matthau later on Broadway and then played Madison on the television series. On Broadway Art Carney had the role of Felix Unger (Norton from The Honeymooners TV series as well, in case you don't know) and in the television series Tony Randall played Felix.

Obviously it's about an odd couple. Oscar is a slob, carefree, and a sports writer for a newspaper. Felix is super neat, super annoying and needy and works as a photographer. I had to look up that Felix was a photographer. For some reason in my mind I totally remember Oscar doing his work and couldn't remember at all what Felix did for a living.

In any case they were an odd couple.

But I'd like today to try and be a bit more like Oscar Madison. A bit more I say, because honestly I'm already kind of a slob. Not dirty. No bugs or food lying around anywhere in my apartment, but I leave my dresser drawers open after pulling out clothes and messing up the folded stuff in there when I'm searching. I leave kitchen cabinets open after taking out a cup or a dish. I pile up the sink until it's too full to put anything in there and then do the dishes. That's not too bad, it's not like I leave dirty dishes for days, another problem is I use too many utensils while I'm cooking. Instead of using a knife to cut the carrots, potatoes and meat, I'll use three, same with stirring sauce and pasta while cooking, two spoons. So I fill up the sink pretty quickly! Just not organized, somewhat like Oscar Madison.

Now at work, I'm organized. I can't stand a messy desk, need a clean workspace and if it's not I can't get my work done, I guess I have little Felix inside me, very very little though. I'd rather dress more in the style of Oscar than Felix too, if I were a man, and as a woman, I prefer sneakers and sweats to jeans and heels. I like comfort. I still love a pretty dress and fancy shoes going to a special occasion but as daily wear no, I'm Oscarish! There's my Oscar, I always dreamed and wished I'd get one, guess I didn't specify exactly which Oscar huh!?

So what I'd like to do that is Oscarish today is write about sports. Yes you heard me. If you know me you are like, what can this girl possibly have to say about sports! Well not much. I do know a few things about sports, some from playing video games, most from the sports fanatics that have been in my life forever. My mom, my father Bo, my brothers, even my sister Linda. And I ended up with so many friends in my life who are also sports fans, some fanatical. I even dated the most sports fanatical guy. People would think he had a bet on a game because of his intensity watching and screaming at the television. He wasn't betting, he was just nuts! Too much. I came home from work one day and he had two TVs in the living room, watching sports on both and flipping back and forth from channel to channel on both TVs, all for sports!

Seeing two TVs in the living room was not a shocker for me. My family had already done it bigger. Came home one time to three TVs in the living room. I don't know what was on, but three sports crossing over, who knows, I just know I had absolutely no interest. Walked in the house, saw all the sports fans surrounded by the TVs and went up to my room to get away from them all.

I did have a short period in time where I could not get enough of watching basketball on TV. My brother Joey turned me on to Michael Jordan and after watching him play once, I was hooked. I couldn't help but be entertained by his amazing talent. For me it was like watching a great TV show or movie. I would actually look in the paper in the TV guide to see when The Bulls were playing. Loved Scotty Pippen too, but Michael Jordan was the man and since he left the game I haven't really enjoyed watching. I always ask my brother is there anyone out there now who reminds him of Jordan's talent and he says sometimes, some player, a little, but still no one is just like Michael Jordan when it comes to basketball, he should be the definition of a basketball player.

I've learned a little bit more about the sporting community in the last few years. My brother Joey has three kids and has them involved in lots of sports, they all started young, my nephews Robert and Jojo and my niece Bella. Joey is divorced from his wife and when they were married I agreed with her that my brother was just too much with the sports, again because I'm not into them, don't think it's such a big deal, can't understand how sports fans can discuss a game to death. Kids who know stats when they don't remember their homework, fail a test. How can that be!? Sports fans knows stats like no body's business. So much, it's scary! No, but they really do know so much and talk and talk about it. But I'm off track, I wanted to talk about the sporting community. So I was saying I agreed with my brother's wife at the time, it was just too much.

Jojo was never really into sports. He always preferred TV and video games but Joey pushed and pushed and Jojo is a basketball phenom. Okay, not a phenom but for Jojo and his past attitude and aptitude for sports, we are way impressed with how far he has come. Even my brother is shocked when Jojo's coach is talking about Jojo. He's like wait a minute. Jojo? You're talking about my son? This year Joey thought Jojo would make the C Team in basketball at the sports community they are involved in. Then all of a sudden the people in charge say no, he's B Team material and my brother was so happy and Jojo, even better, was so proud and excited. He was playing well, he could be a peer with his older brother. Turns out he made the A Team! He's awesome, so into the game and I've heard him having those sport discussions, stats flying all over, terms I don't understand, mostly because I don't want to, but he's got the sports bug in him now our Jojo! Robert and Bella both play really well and have enjoyed playing from very young.

I've gone to a lot of games and practices over the last few years since Joey got divorced. At the start still believing that it was too much. There's always a game, there's always a practice. Sometimes two games a day, traveling, just crazy busy. But then I started noticing something, feeling something. I was part of this community now. Not like all these people are my friends and we socialize, but we're part of a community.

So the best thing about local sports, to me, a non-sportsman, is the community. It's strong. There may be a pain in the butt, loud-mouthed parent (or two or three) who just gets your goat, but for the most part I see these people bringing their children because they want their kids to be involved in something fun, that keeps them busy, keeps them out of trouble, makes them feel like they belong. And belonging is so much more important these days than when I was growing up.

I watch my nephews and niece enjoy this community more than the games they play. They belong, it's a safe place, a home away from home, surrounded by people that really care about each other, brought together by sports, even when you're not a sports fan like me!

Over the last few days I've heard from another sports community. On Facebook there's a Knute Rockne Alumni Page and I was invited to join and am now a proud member. Why? Well, I've gotten some pictures and messages from a friend of mine on Facebook, Danny. Danny and his brother Tommy both went to grammar school with me and lived in the same neighborhood, Bay Ridge Brooklyn. I think Danny may have switched to PS104 at some point, maybe both he and Tommy did, I can't remember, but again, they were part of my neighborhood, my community, I saw them often growing up. They both also played for the Knute Rockne Football League in our neighborhood which my three older brothers played in years before Danny and Tommy. Danny sent me a picture the other day and my brother Michael is in the picture.

My brother Michael unfortunately died in 1988, only 33 years old, way too young and I believe at a time in his life when he was truly on a road to a good place. Seeing the picture of Michael meant so much to me and I thanked Danny but I don't know if my "thank you" expressed how much it meant to me and I can't wait for his daughter to see the picture, I think she will really love it.



When I shared the picture on my Facebook page I wrote that I thought my brother's number was "12". My cousin Doug (disguised on Facebook as his wife Tracey) commented that he thought it was "24" and then my sister Linda, who is one of those sports fans in my family, added in her sports expertise:

"Yeah Trish - Low #'s are for the quarterback's, it's 42"

Michael was an awesome football player (I've heard). Never cared remember! And my mom loved football which she got hooked on because of my oldest brother Jimmy. My brother Jimmy was given the first sports scholarship ever from Poly Prep which was a big deal, an expensive school. Someone came to see my mom from the school and said they wanted Jimmy to play for them. My mom told them, no I can't afford Poly Prep. They told her, no, no, we will pay his way, we want him, he's that good, you should watch him play and she did. Jimmy (again from what I've heard) was really great, amazing agility. But my mom loved the game and especially loved watching her sons play. I blogged before about a football game where my brothers' Michael and Bobby were on opposing teams. Whenever anyone asked my mom who she wanted to win, she said I want a tie and a tie she got. When I posted that blog, Spelunker, I got a comment back from my niece Irene, Michael's beautiful daughter. Irene's comment:

Great picture of dad! There is more to the football story with the 'tie'. Dad got Uncle Bob kicked out of the game, because dad hit Uncle Bob (but the ref didn't see), when Uncle Bob hit dad back the ref did see, and kicked Uncle Bob out. It was the one and only game Uncle Bob ever got kicked out of.

I talked to my brother Bob after reading Irene's comment because I didn't know Bobby was thrown out of the game because of Michael. Bobby told me, yeah, but we weren't throwing punches, Michael bit me! Oh my brother Michael! Though you were loved by so many, you really had a way of getting under people's skin, and in the tie game used your teeth to get there!

And not only was I invited to join this sport community alumni, Danny made a special picture and sent that to me. Thanks again Danny! I will proudly represent my brother for the Knute Rockne Alumni page on Facebook. Will apologize for him in case he bit any of the alumni or got anyone besides my brother Bob thrown out of a game.

Danny's brother Tommy had the same number as Michael. Yeah 24 I know now, low numbers are for the quarterbacks, but Danny told me that when he, his brother and friends played for the Knute Rockne league they loved the older guys who played before them, looked up to them, wanted to keep their numbers in the game.

That's the sports community, it's a nice play to be, even if you don't like sports!



So there's my sports story.

Here's Oscar Madisonish Trish signing off...


[By the way, if you live in New York or New Jersey, there's a radio station, WKXW New Jersey 101.5, and one of the news announcers on the show is Walter Matthau's son, David. It's so funny when I hear him sign off on one of his news stories, you can hear his dad's tone in his voice. Great station to listen to Monday through Thursday from 9pm to 11pm, The Late Show. It's a call in radio program and they talk about relationships, life, weird stuff, great show, listen if you get a chance and when the news comes on, listen for David Matthau's sign off.]