Men's Basketball at Queens College

Tonight the family took a quick drive over to Queens College to watch a game with CW Post.  Queens is in Division II and now plays in the East Coast Conference (http://www.eastcoastconference.org) Of course the facility is just a simple college gym, but you can't find entertainment for less that $4/ticket these days.  Queens College won 82-72.  When we got home we saw the end of the Knick/Denver Nugget game.  With about a minute to go a flagrant foul was committed and a big fight ensued.  I presume there will be several suspensions and fines.  These pro players make millions of dollars a year and just can't sho good sportsmanship.  The Nuggets won the game 123-100.

Womens College Basketball at St. Johns

Since professional basketball is so expensive the family takes in several college games every season.  Today we took a short drive over to St. Johns and saw their womens team beat Nicholls State College 63-50.  I had worked at St. Johns library from 1990-92.  To make a long story short, it was a very disappointing experience.  I had my problems with the Happy Hungarian.  With 20/20 hidnsight the only good thing about the job was the proximity to home.  Since 1992 I've had to schlep from Queens to Newark.  Next week the NJIT basketball team which for the first year is in Divison I is playing the St.Johns team at Alumni Hall now known as the Carnesseca Arena.

Random Thoughts

Yesterday was my colleague Jackie's last day at NJIT before going on family leave since she is expecting a baby at the end of January.  We had a nice party for her in the afternoon.  I woke up at 5:30 this morning.  It seems that as I've aged I need less sleep.  I got out of bed at about 6:00 and listened to Mark Simone's morning talk show on WABC.  When the rest of the family awoke at 6:40 we got ready to have breakfast out at Uncle Bill's Diner   I had my pancakes with sausages.  Later in the afternoon we saw the movie Holiday featuring Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet.  Saturday night oldies was recorded tonight.  Mark Simone interviewed Dan Ingram whose theme was Tri Fi Drums.  I have an MP3 version of that which I e-mailed to 10 listeners who asked for it on the message board.

Bruce and Mark Simone

Let's go back to Saturday afternoon's Meet and Greet for Saturday Night Oldies Fans.  Mark Simone was nice enough to take pictures with his fans.  Here is a picture of yours truly with Mark who also worked for WPIX-FM, WNEW-AM, and WMCA.  We are really hoping that the management of WABC keeps the show on the air.  In recent weeks the show has been pre-empted for sports coverage.  Six months after the CBS radio executives changed format on 101.1 FM WABC put the oldies show on Saturday nights.  At least WABC management has an appreciation for the heritage of the station.

A slow Sunday

Didn't do all that much today.  Lee's afterschool group met at AppleBees for lunch so I just took a walk in Forest Park in the morning.  Karen and I went to the local pizzeria for lunch.  I read the New York Times, listened to Jonathan Schwartz on WNYC-FM, and watched last quarter of the Jets game as they won 38-10.  When Lee returned we listened to Bob Dylan's ThemeTime Radio which featured songs about Tennessee.  Plenty of songs about Nashville and Memphis, but not Chatanooga Choo Choo.  It seems that Bob usually picks old standards and country songs for his Theme Time Radio Show.  3 more weeks of work until the Christmas break.

Saturday Night Oldies Meet and Greet

We finally had our Saturday Night Oldies Meet and Greet at Bens Deli on West 38th Street in Manhattan.  This event could only be organized by the new information technologies.  On June 3, 2005 WCBS-FM dropped the oldies format after 33 years and flipped to the dreaded Jack format.  On December 3, 2005 WABC partially filled the void by placing Saturday night oldies from 6 - 10 PM.  From 1960-82 WABC was the premier top 40 station in the USA if not New York.  I am grateful that the management of WABC appreciates the heritage of the station and put oldies back on the air even only 4 hours a week.  I helped Frank, Jeff, Alan and Cara plan this event to celebrate the first anniversary of the show.  It was nice to meet Mark Simone the DJ and his producer Frank Marano.  Several people brought digital cameras.  Frank took a picture of me with Mark.  So hopefully, he will send it to me soon so I could post it.

Pizza, Bowne Park. Football and Match Game

When I went to the BBC2 web site, Sounds of the Sixties was not listed.  Apparently there was some technical difficultie in putting the show on the web so I am listening to the Loft on XM Radio.  It was quite mild for the end of November so the family walked over to the local pizzeria.  Lee and I had sausage on our slice when Karen had her usually spinach.  From there we walk about one mile to Bowne Park and sat around for a while.  When we got home we saw the last waurter of the Jet game as they beat the Houston Texans 26-11.  After dinner we turned on the Giant game and saw they were ahead 21-0.  It turned out that the Tennessee Titans rallyed an won 24 -21.  At 8 PM, the Game Show Network had a one hour show about the history of the Match Game.  I watched it way back in the 1970s, but the Game Show Network shows the reruns featuring Gene Rayburn, Richard Dawson, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Bret Sommers.  I have stated in this blog that we are big fans of Jeopardy, but we watch other game shows as well.  Back to the lunacy, hypocrisy, mediocrity and prejudice tomorrow.