JFK, Basketball, Bristol Palin, Bengals, Buckeyes, and Harry Potter

I would say the title of the blog says I have much to say about nothing, or little to say about a lot of things, will see how that works out as I type.  It was a weekend that kept me busy from Friday afternoon until late last night.....and I would say, it was better than sitting around ...although I did plant my butt on the leather recliner for the Buckeye/Iowa game Saturday afternoon....a come from behind win that sent Ohio State to a 10-1 record and still tied with Wisconsin and Michigan State atop the Big Ten standings.  Next weekend will see the final Big Battle of the season, this one between arch rivals Michigan at Ohio State....looks like both of the boys will see that game live.  Sam working for the Big Ten Network, and Hal in the stands.  As for me?  I've got a early morning Freshman Girls game at Minster, will come home watch the Buckeyes beat Michigan again, and then head off to Spencerville for a girls JV game that evening, that should be enough keep the blood flowing all weekend....and the legs sore.

The Cincinnati Bengals were "blacked out" locally(since they didn't sell out)...and it appears they didn't show up for their game with equally hapless Buffalo in the 2nd half.  Leading early 28-7 and at half 31-14, the Bengals were skunked after halftime and lost 49-31...the trademark of a pathetic season, just one year after they swept the division rivals and made the playoffs.  So with no "Bungles" to watch, I caught a bit of NASCAR, which saw Jimmy Johnson win his 5th straight crown, and some of the Packers blow-out win over Brett Favre and the Vikings...Packer fans have to be smiling at the downfall of the "Drama Queen"...at least I know Sam is, he's a life long Pack fan, as are all of the wife's family....although some of them still like Brett, Sam not being one of them....he can no longer stand the guy....I'm pretty ambivalent....in fact, the NFL, like NASCAR, is pretty contrived and boring these days, at least in my mind.

Harry Potter Reviewed_____

  My taste in movies pretty much runs the gamete.  I especially like 1940s Film Noir, from Bogart to Cagney,  funny stuff of the same generation, especially Cary Grant movies.  Enjoy almost all Hitchcock, and some Abbot and Costello, and The 3 Stooges comedies....then the John Wayne westerns from the 50s and 60s...and just about anything Clint Eastwood, from the 70s and 80s...but not that politically correct crap he produces and directs these days, that stuff isn't worth getting on the shoes to go see.

Patricia and I usually take in 2 or 3 movies in the theater a year....of late it's been action stuff and Harry Potter and The C.S. Lewis "Chronicles of Narnia" series....the latest of which comes out next month.  Anyway, after we, along with Anissa, had an early supper, we headed off to see the latest installment of Harry...."The Deathly Hallows" part 1...meaning that the studio had in mind making at least a second installment, so they could rake in more millions of bucks...not that I blame them.

First thing off, the Celina Theater had the volume way too loud....that in itself was irritating as Hell.   The movie was a little over 2 hours long...and dragged in the middle.  The special effects were, as usual, pretty darn good.  the kids stars are getting a little old, with some sexual suggestions present...I'm for sure no prude, but aren't these books for the younger set?  The movies are not to be sure...dark, well acted, but not suitable for the impressionable set, in my opinion.  The movie started strong, dragged for the next hour, then ended with a bang....and left you with the knowledge, if you had any interest in what happens, you will be back and paying to see the final episode(?) come 2011.  I give it a C+, and we will most likely trudge off to see the next version.  By that time, the actors will be way too old, and the series, at least in this form, will come to an end.

Dartball tonight...our longest drive of the season, the 20 miles or so to Schumm Lutheran, where we will try to win at least a game....Schumm is the usual winner, and the most powerful team in the league over my 16 years playing...although last week they did get swept in 3 games by Hopewell, like we did the previous week.  We stand at 0-6 and they are 2-4.  This will be my final full Monday for awhile...for most of the season I will have games on Monday, and be arriving late to toss the feathered wood darts.

The Death of JFK, 47 years ago today____

I have not seen or heard much about the assassination of John Kennedy,  some 47 years ago today, on the news...maybe they are saving things up for the 50th observance in 2013?  Most of us over the age of 55 I'm guessing, can tell you where they were when the young Prez was gunned down. 

A cold rainy November in 1963...our Algebra teacher, my Freshman year at Celina High School,  tells us that "President Kennedy has been shot in Dallas, Texas, and is presumed dead".  I wasn't a JFK fan, but I despised Lyndon Johnson.  And still do to this day.  "The Great Society", my war, the Vietnam War, and his lies, are enough to put LBJ in my rankings of the 5 worst Presidents in my recollection....joining him are FDR, Carter, Clinton, and the current Kenyan asshole in the White House.  JFK, by today's standards was a Conservative....both fiscal and social, far more than some so-called Conservatives today.  Johnson, on the other hand was a jerk, a certified lying bastard, who is responsible for much of the ills in America today.

The weekend that followed the Kennedy murder, the funeral, the shooting of Oswald, and the black and white TV news reporting, seem surreal today....those that were of age, unless hiding in a cave, cannot possibly forget that weekend, 47 years ago.

So that's where I was on November 22, 1963...sitting in Algebra Class, on a cold, rainy, Friday afternoon. in Celina, Ohio, when JFK became the stuff folk lore is made of.  A young President from a suspect family, who would produce more useless politicians than any before or since.  He was by far the best of a Kennedy bad lot....his father and brothers, especially one Ted Kennedy, would prove to be a cancer on America...a group of men and a family, given far more love, credit, and respect, than they ever should deserve.

That's my take, and I make no apologies for it.....

Finally, I've never watched "Dancing With The Stars", but hopefully tonight Bristol Palin, daughter of Sarah Palin, will continue to advance on the show....can she dance?  Who knows?...Who cares?  I just want her to continue on...it really, really, drives the Kennedy, Obama, loving a-holes of America nuts, and that is reason enough to root for her to continue on.  So if you watch, make sure you give her your vote....as John Lennon would sing..."Imagine", imagine the left wing losers on a suicide watch?  I wonder if you can?  And if you can, remember, the thought of it, brings a smile to my face.

back later>>>>

Photos-JFK(the best of a bad lot),  Bengals, not quite as hapless when I took this sideline photo in 1983...OSU shoots for at least a share of their 6th straight Big Ten Football Title against Arch-Rival Michigan next week, Harry Potter's latest Deathly Hallows part 1 dragged in parts.  Finally the worst(IMO) of the Kennedy Clan, the abortion loving drunk, Ted Kennedy, who is still glorified by the left...but let's face it, all the lefts heroes, whether a Kennedy, or a half baked Kenyan asshole, are pretty much pure trash.

The Legend of Harry Billie~Star of the Seminole Nation

Typical November weather for western Ohio...a little rain, then some sun, a good breeze..then clear and cold at night, with heavy amounts of frost on the windshields in the morning....it may warm up by Sunday, with a high near 60, then back in the 40s with lows in the 20s and 30s for most of the next week.

I was all set to begin my basketball work tomorrow Noon at Lincolnview High School, outside of Van Wert....instead, after a call yesterday, I will begin tonight on the other side of Van Wert County at Crestview High School in Convoy, Ohio.  Seems the Athletic Director had a scheduled official cancel, to do a college game, and he needed somebody else to work the threeway Varsity/Junior Varsity scrimmage tonight between Crestview, Antwerp, and Fort Recovery.  So off to work I will go this evening, and give my legs, lungs, and back, a workout, and if my 61 year 8 month old body and parts survive that, I will head to Lincolnview tomorrow morning, and do it all over again.  Basketball Season, for me at least, if officially here.

Harry Billie, Everglades City and Naples, Florida_____

Over the past 50 years or so, I have seen more sporting events, and participated in as many as a player, coach, and official, than I could ever count.  On occasion you work with or view a player that sticks out in your mind for the rest of your life.  I have been on the sidelines at NFL games, in the press box for Major League Baseball contests, pro Hockey in the stands, and thousands of college, high school, and youth sporting events...coaching, playing, officiating, or just a fan in the stands.  I've seen some great ones, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Walter Peyton, and hundreds of others, some hall of fame types, some close, and thousands of everyday players.

The first "star" I can ever recall seeing in person, was a young full blooded Seminole Indian, named Harry Billie.  I had not thought much about Harry in the nearly 50 years since I watched him work his magic on the Venice Indians that night during the 1961-62 season in south Florida.

I was in 7th grade at Venice Junior High that year, and we had all heard of Harry Billie, and he was on his way to take on our Venice Indians as they hosted Naples High School that winter night in Venice.  Harry turned out to be everything that was advertised...I don't remember the final score, but I do remember Harry Billie hitting a half court shot to end the first half...he was something else, that something was an athlete the likes of which I had never seen in my 12 years on earth...at least not in person, I have seen few as good as he was to this day.

I lost track of what had happened to him until this Wednesday....

I was reading some posts on our Vietnam Security Police Bulletin Board and noticed a post from a man named Thomas Billie, likewise a Seminole Indian...he, was from the Oklahoma Nation, and not the Seminole Nation of Florida, but the correspondent I had with him, and with Glenn Miller, the man who wrote the following piece, that got me to thinking about and researching,  "Harry Billie":

http://apse.dallasnews.com/contest/2001/writing/40-100.feature.fourth2.html

My family, after a decade in south Florida, moved back to Ohio late in 1962, while Harry was signed by the Florida State Seminoles to play football....after a year, he switched to baseball, signed a pro contract,  playing a few years in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system.  A broken hand, alcohol, and the system at the time, ended the sports career of this man, who was the greatest athlete I had seen in my first dozen years on this earth.  Harry Billie was not a big man...5' 11" and 180 pounds were his playing stats(about the same size I am today), but he was a giant of a man among boys in his time at Everglades City and Naples.

Harry it turns out moved on, got sober, and works as a Director at the Miccosukee Indian Reservation...located between Everglades City and Miami, on the old Tamiami Trail, Highway 41.  The last article I found on him was from 2005 in the Seminole Tribune....he was making his 12th appearence at the Seminole Wellness and Conference Center...and talking about life and soberness, not about his glory days in sports.  Here is a link to Harry's minor league baseball stats:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=billie001har

Thanks to Glenn Miller, the Seminole Tribune, and Thomas Billie of the Oklahoma Seminole Nation, for helping me revive the old memories, the material, and photo for today's blog.

Harry Potter's new release_____

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthedeathlyhallows/mainsite/index.html 

This weekend another Harry, Mr Potter, and his gang will be on the big screen in the newest release of their latest adventures....if we get the time, Patricia and I will head to the local theater Sunday and take this installment in....meanwhile, enjoy the weekend.

Back Later>>>>>

Photos-Harry Billie in 2005 and Harry Potter's new adventure starts in theaters today, with part 2 of the Deathly Hallows coming in 2011

Harry Potter/Half Blood Prince...Global Warming?

Went to Minster for my 6 month check-up yesterday, so didn't get at the painting...had my Blood Pressure checked and some blood work done...BP was OK 116/75(which I have my doubts, mine has never been that low, I'm thinking 135/78 is good for me)and the blood work will be finished today...frankly, at 60 and feeling good, I'm not to concerned, no matter how you slice it, I'm in the twilight of my time on earth, and I plan on enjoying what I have left.

Meanwhile the temperatures continue to be unseasonably cool for mid Summer...yesterday reached the low 80s, but with the breeze it was nice, today only the 70s, and only 68 for a high tomorrow...68? On July 18th? 68 is more like the "normal" low, but we are talking HIGH temps....How's the Global Warming lie working out for all of the Chicken Little types running around?

The Latest Harry Potter___

Patricia and I walked up to the Celina Theater about 6:30 last night to take in the latest installment of "Harry Potter"...This one being the "Half Blood Prince"...the name already put me to mind of our fearless leader Barry Soetoro Obama....I'm thinking more like "Barack Obama the Half Wit King" but then again I would be accused of being a racist or some other bullshit, if I would ever write down or say that....oops, just did. Accuse away left wingers, because that's what those without real arguments do.

Anyway, I've seen them all, although I've never read the books...the movies have been pretty easy to follow, well produced and acted...Having said that, stay away from this one, at least unless you are a "Harry Groupie". This one is long, 2 1/2 hours, rather boring, and really doesn't solve much at all in the grand scheme of things. The acting is good, the plot sucks, and few things are finalized...I won't say any more than that....but I would not waste my time or money on this one...besides, it will all work out in the end as well. So give the "Half Blood Prince" a 2 stars out of 5...meanwhile give the Obama Presidency a 1/2 star...and that's being kind.

Painting Progress___and the weekend

No painting yesterday, and probably not today either...I told Nick I would come over to the south side of the lake. With the cooler weekend coming up, if the rains stay away{and they have been almost all summer}, I will get back at it. So far with the new light ladder, the moving around has been easier, although I still have to use the heavy old wood 32 footer for the high spots...always a treat, especially since I'm not fond of heights, but can do what has to be done, when called on it.

That will do it for now...enjoy the weekend.

back later>>>>