FORGET ABOUT #1

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Last week I was irritated Syracuse was not ranked #1 after beating Louisville. Only #3 and #4.

Yesterday Syracuse played unranked Villanova. A few nights ago, Villanova defeated Louisville who was ranked #5 at the time. Yesterday, Villanova beat Syracuse.

Two top 5 teams in one week!

An accomplishment!

Syracuse limped away.

Excuses/reasons. Two of our starting 5 fouled out. The bench gets smaller in height as you move down it. In the first half, the ball just would not go in the basket. That simple. Too many shoots missed. Many were lay ups.

Syracuse played better in the second half. But not good enough to win. Villanova came out on top in overtime.

Such is life!

I watched the game at the Big Ten Sports Pub. I was the only Syracuse fan there until the overtime when Dan and Lisa came in. Where were the 20-30 Syracuse fans who usually show up? They were there for the first two Syracuse games. The crowd has dwindled till yesterday it was basically only me.

Why, again? I doubt it is me. I shower before each game. I have concluded it has to be the Big Ten Sports Pub. The fans may not like the way it is configured, the noise, etc. I do not know. All I know is that something is wrong.

I also do not know where they are watching the game. John’s place is the best venue in town for sports viewing in my opinion.

Remember the former college guys at the Chart Room the night before raising hell. They were celebrating their ten year reunion. They were at the Big Ten yesterday during the Syracuse game. They were not watching the game. They were playing foosball. Had a competition going. Yelling and screaming same as the night before. Downing shots every few minutes.

Gentlemen they were. They asked me to play foosball with them. I declined. I am too old for the sport. Ho ho.

The Wizard of Oz will be playing a major part in our lives for the next month. Robert and Ally are munchkins in the high school play to be performed at the end of February.

Robert has graduated. He is playing a munchkin with a speaking role. Robert has 25 lines. Wowie!

Chittenango is a little town between Utica and Syracuse. It is on Route 5, a two lane New York State highway. Route 5 runs right through the center of downtown chittenago. Downtown is modest. All of 5,000 people.

Lisa said she had a vague recollection that Chittenango had something to do with the Wizard of Oz. I did not know. I knew the town was famous for hams. It is the Ham That Am town.

I checked Lisa’s comment on the internet. She was correct. Chittenango and the Wizard of Oz are tightly related.

L. Frank Baum wrote the Wizard of Oz in 1900. He was a resident of Chittenango at the time. To commemorate the event, Chittenango has a yellow brick road. The sidewalks on both sides of downtown Route 5 are painted yellow. There is a store called Auntie ‘Ems. There is also an annual three day festival. Several of the surviving munchkins show up each year. Munchkins from the 1939 movie which starred Judy Garland.

A small world!

Enjoy your Sunday!

DOTTI BACK IN TOWN

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I was sitting quietly by the computer last night working on friday’s show. The telephone rang. It was  a voice from the past. Dotti.

Dotti is an old Key West friend. I have not seen her in several years. She married and moved to Mexico. She is back. Working at a jewelry store on Duval.

Are you dressed, she asked. Of course was the reply. I am at Louie’s Backyard. Meet me for a drink.

Away I went.

The evening was perfect. Stars galore. The weather cool. Dotti lovely. The diet Pepsi’s fantastic.

I enjoyed the evening.

I spent a good portion of yesterday preparing for friday’s show. The Key West Lou Legal Hour. More to do.

The show is at 10 in the morning my time. Airs on television on Comcast Channel 87 and U-Verse Channel 19. All the way from Key West through Miami-Dade County. The show is available in 250,00 homes via television alone.

The Key West Lou Legal Hour is also available on the internet. World wide. www.tvchannel19.com.

Join me. An interesting fun filled hour.

Syracuse basketball tonight! We are into it. Big East league play. Providence is tonight’s opponent. The game is at Providence. Seven o’clock.

I will be watching at the Big Ten Sports Pub.

This Brent Musburger thing this morning is ridiculous. The media has better to do.

Musburger mentioned on TV during the Alabama/Notre Dame game that A. J. McCarron’s girl friend was beautiful. ESPN issued a written apology.

What garbage! We go too far with political niceties these days. Suppose a female sportscaster had said A. J. McCarron was handsome? Would an apology have been warranted?

Ascertained the screw up with the blog talk radio show. I have not been able to get into the site to do the show for two weeks. Sloan figured it out. My cell phone does not take a second number after the initial telephone one. Some thing to do with programming. I will be at Verizon later to get it corrected.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

BLOG TALK RADIO SHOW TOMORROW

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Bright and early tomorrow morning…..The Key West Lou Blog Talk Radio Show. Seven o’clock. The Key West sun is not yet up at that time. But…..that is the time! One half hour of chit chat. A call in show. You can telephone me from anywhere in the world to make a statement, ask a question, challenge my thoughts, etc.

Grab a cup of coffee and join me! Topics revolve around current events. More than enough to talk about.

The show can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou. Nationally, pick up your telephone and call. Internationally, use Skype.

Syracuse basketball yesterday. We won. Beat South Florida 55-40.

The score says it all. Not a good game. Not up to the Syracuse standards of recent years. The team appears to be good. But not great. Two problems as I  see it. Great talent not blending together. The smooth moving machine is not yet there. The other problem is that the team is like Syracuse  of old. They cannot make foul shots.

I watched the game at The Big Ten Sports Bar.

It was old home week. Syracuse fans from last year gathered. It was good to see them back. All nice people.

I sat with Dan and Lisa Reardon. Dan and Lisa own a restaurant in Skaneateles, New York. Loyal Key West snow birds. They spend the month of January here each year.

Watching the game was difficult. Sin and temptation surrounded me. Everyone drinking. Beer, wine and hard liquor. Even worse, eating! Wings, nachos, burgers, and the like. I could smell every dish. Taste every drink.

I almost capitulated and ordered a drink and order of wings.

We will all be back again wednesday night to watch the Syracuse/Providence game. May providence be with me!

Tonight, the college football game of the year! Alabama v. Notre Dame. I will be pulling for Notre Dame. Though I expect Alabama to win.

I will be watching at the Big Ten Sports Bar again. This time with a different set of friends. Jean and Joe Thornton are Alabama grads. Dave attended Alabama. I will be with them amongst others.

There is a pomposity in Washington. Our Congressional leaders erroneously think they know everything. I have come up with a solution. Let them visit Key West for week. Dress down to shorts and a tee shirt. Forget shaving for a day or two. Live in Key West time.

If that does not change them, nothing will.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

SATURDAY NIGHT WITH JENNA

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I went out last night. A big deal. I have not been going out because of my diet. I am easily tempted. To be near food and drink is difficult.

Jenna was my date.

Just what a 77 year old needs. A 26 year old dinner companion.

We started the evening at the Chart Room. Ran into Captain Peter in the parking lot. A good man.

JJ was bartending. Jean and Joe Thornton were there. Two of the best. Alabama grads. I may watch the game with them Monday night. Told them I am pulling for Notre Dame.

Dinner was at the Hot Tin Roof. Jenna ate. She eats little, however. I had two diet Pepsi’s, a glass of water and a cup of coffee. The company kept me going.

After I dropped Jenna off, I headed over to Don’s Place. I have not been there in five weeks because of the diet. I felt like I had returned home!

Rob and Bebe, Herschel and Erika, and Boomer at the bar. Stayed a brief ten minutes talking with them. Then got out of Dodge fast! I was dying for a drink!

It is amazing! I feel so good this morning. I attribute it to having gone out last night.

Syracuse basketball today at noon. We play South Florida. I will be watching at John’s Big Ten Sports Bar. Only diet Pepsi on the menu for me.

I see in the news this morning that Syracuse is losing its head football coach, Don Marrone. Sad. Don has done a terrific job in returning Syracuse to winning football. Don is going back to professional football. He will be head coach for the Buffalo Bills.

Don of Don’s Place is a Buffalo native and die hard fan. I am confident Don will be happier with Marrone as head coach.

The debt ceiling problem gnaws at me. It should not be a problem. Never was till the Republicans made it one last year.

The Republicans are playing a dangerous game if they shut down the government as threatened. The United States will not be able to pay its bills. Any of its bills. No Social Security checks, no doctors and hospitals being paid via Medicare, no federal salaries, no nothing where federal dollars are involved. Globally their conduct could bring down our economy and that of the world.

Washington mugging the people!

People will go to the streets. There could be riots and the like. I would not expect federal troops to interfere. They are not being paid. Additionally, I cannot conceive of them exercising force against their fellow citizens under the circumstances.

It will not be as after World War I when veterans were protesting in Washington pension problems. They established a tent city. MacArthur went in with federal troops and broke up the demonstration. I have always considered the day to have been a black one in American history.

I am assuming Obama will prevent the debt ceiling crisis by exercising certain never used before Presidential powers under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Enjoy your Sunday!

 

 

SYRACUSE BASKETBALL AT LUKAS’ BIG TEN PUB

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Syracuse fans who visit Key West! There is a new place for watching Syracuse basketball. John Lukas’ Big Ten Pub. Located on lower Caroline Street.

You have previously joined me at the Sports Bar on Green street. It is no more. Closed. In the meantime, John Lukas opened a new  sports bar. Fortune shined on us. The place is terrific!

The season has started. San Diego State is behind us. I stopped in to see John last night at his sports bar. I made the deal for the season. There will always be at least one TV set aside for Syracuse viewing. The same one. We have our own corner, tables and chairs. It matters not whether pro foot ball or other sports are playing. Syracuse basketball will be available! Guaranteed!

The food is good, also. Extra good.

We need a Syracuse flag. I told John  I would get one. The flag we had at the other bar was supposed to be returned to me. Never got it.

You will like John. He is a gracious host.

My yesterday started with a hair cut at Lori’s Blown Away. I was surprised when I walked in. Lori was finishing up Lisa. A pleasure to run into my daughter. I asked how Ally did after I left the day before. Lisa said she redid everything per my instructions. Ally was thrilled with the result. A good grandfather am I!

I had Lori trim my beard a bit. Not much. Under the chin and neck. I had more hair on my neck than on my chin.

I researched and read till late afternoon. I had a 4 o’clock appointment at the Comcast TV studio. Jenna and I fine tuned the physical portion of the show. The dark/night background is gone. A light orange replaces it. Chairs were changed, etc. Crystal the engineer and owner Rick helped.

Everything should work properly this friday. I consider  friday my first show. Four minutes last week was not enough to qualify. We are doing a run through this afternoon to make sure everything is A-OK.

The show….. The Key West Lou Legal Hour. Ten in the morning my time friday. Available on television in the Keys on Comcast Channel 87. Available world wide via the internet. www.tvchannel19.com.

I stopped at the gas station on US 1 and Key Haven. A Sheriff’s car sitting there. Out jumped Matt Dowling. Matt is an old friend I see not enough. He is obviously a deputy. We were both glad to have run into each other.

The Chart Room was interesting. JJ bartending. The only other customer besides me for a while was Dan. I met Dan last night for the first time.

Dan is manager at the Sunset Pier Bar.

The three of us chatted. Dan’s wife is Sheila. Sheila is the bartender at the Hot Tin Roof. I told Dan how I once judged a high heels contest at Vino’s. Sheila was in it. Very high heeled red shoes. He recalled. Says she has never worn them since. We decided women buy a lot of clothes they rarely use.

Some how the conversation got around to Cape Cod. JJ spent his wedding night at the Chatham Bar Inn. I stayed at the Inn once or twice a summer for several years. A great place.

We chatted about another Dan. The Dan presently the manager of Hogsbreath. Formerly manager of the Yacht Club. I shared that Dan was once the manager of the Impudent Oyster in Chatham.

A small world.

Then it was to John Lukas’ sports bar. While there, I watched the first half of the Michigan State/Kansas basketball game.

I finished watching the game at Don’s Place. A close game. Michigan State won. Terrific basketball! Unusual this early in the season.

An Italian friend emailed  and told me that Italy would have a demonstration today. I was told the papers were not even reporting it for fear the demonstration would get out of hand.

Italy is six hours ahead of us time wise. The demonstration has already occurred as I write this blog. Thousands of people. No reported injuries or damage.

Turns out several countries demonstrated yesterday. Greece, Spain and Portugal included. The people of each country are sick of the austerity programs being imposed on them. They have had two years of austerity already.

Germany’s Chancellor Merkel visited Italy monday. She was not welcome. The Italians are beginning to dislike Germany as the Greeks do. Germany is the banker.

If it were not so serious, it would be a joke. Germany is never going to collect all the dollars it loaned. Did Germany pay back the heavy reparations following World War I? Of course not. There is only so much that can be done in spite of promises made.

I have an appointment to see a dermatologist later this morning. I  developed a growth on my back. It is going to be cut out. Ouch!

Enjoy your day!

 

SUNDAY A MIXED BAG

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Good morning!

A lovely Key West morning! Sun is bright. Sky pure blue. No clouds. Water blue. A bit of wind.

The weather lately has been amazing. We seem to have left the rainy season. It is cooler, however. No 80s. Mid 70s by day. Mid 60s by night. No need for air conditioning. Sleep with the windows open and a light blanket for cover.

My morning yesterday was quiet. As I have suggested before, the way a Sunday should begin. I laid in bed watching the morning TV talk shows. Meet the Press, The Chris Matthews Show, etc. Shows that feed the political junkie me.

Later, grabbed a beach chair and towel and drove over to Higgs Beach. Stopped on the way to buy the Sunday New York Times. $5.50! Outrageous!

Read the paper and watched the ladies a while. Got hungry. Stopped in Salute’s. Enjoyed a fish sandwich at the bar.

My intent later in the afternoon was to be at the Big Ten Sports Bar to watch Syracuse’s first basketball game of the season. Never made it.

When I returned from Salute’s, I took a quick shower before heading over to the Sports Bar. Laid on the bed for a few minutes. Turned on TV. One of my all time favorite movies was playing. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing. Starred William Holden and Jennifer Jones. 1955 vintage. I decided to watch the movie. Never made it to the Sports Bar. Missed the Syracuse game. I must be getting old!

I knew William Holden. Back in the 1970s, I used to go to La Costa a couple of times a year. A spa outside San Diego. Holden was generally there. We became La costa friends.

I used to go to lose weight. He went to dry out.

The thing that sticks in my mind about him was that he was always the gentleman.

We used to spend our evenings smoking cigars and chatting. I rarely smoked a cigar back then. Do not now. However, there was nothing else to do in the evening at the spa.

Oops. Almost forgot. Syracuse won. Beat San Diego State 62-49.

Billy Kristol was on one of the talk shows yesterday morning. He is a very much respected conservative. He spoke of the Republican Party debacle.

He expressed the need for the Republican Party to accept new ideas.

Regarding taxing the wealthy more, he said go for it! Let me quote him. Taxing the wealthy “…won’t kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires…half of whom voted Democratic and half of whom live in Hollywood and are hostile.”

Think about Obama’s proposed tax hike. Only four percentage points more. From 35 per cent to 39 per cent.

When Clinton was President, the federal tax rate was 39 per cent. Where Obama wants to take us now. The country prospered. Everyone made money big time. Even me. If you add the New York State income tax onto the 39 per cent, I was paying close to 50 per cent of my income in taxes. I did not mind. Nor did anyone else. The economy was booming! Money was flowing in!

The 4 per cent is nothing more than pocket change to today’s rich.

We have been paying 35 per cent for years. Is the economy booming? Has it boomed in recent years? The argument against raising the tax on the rich is a bogus one.

Grandkids day! They are off from school. Today is Veterans Day.

Enjoy your day!

BIG TEN SPORTS BAR LAST NIGHT

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My friday morning yesterday was the internet show. The Key West Lou Legal Hour went well. I was bombarded after the show by people commenting on the puppy mill topic. Most were shocked by what was revealed.

Hurried home after the show to write my column for next week’s KONK Life. I did a bit on the hookers displaced by the London Olympics. The article covers prostitution in general in England, also. Interesting.

Last night turned out to be one of the most enjoyable I have spent in Key West. Good people and good conversation throughout the evening.

The night started at Don’s Place. I was to meet David. We planned on dinner together.

Besides David, Erika, Herschel and Jimmy were at Don’s. Herschel was giving away his cigarettes. Today he is being hypnotized to help him stop smoking. I wish him good luck.

David and I decided to eat at the Big Ten Sports Bar. John Lukas’ place.

It was packed! The most people I have ever seen there. A fundraiser was going on. For four year old Kylee Farrow. A cancer victim. She begins extensive therapy today.

Kylee’s mother and grandmother were there. It is a hard situation. I felt for them. I remembered Robert eight years ago.

David and I met David at the bar. The additional David instantly became a new friend. He is from England, retired and spending some time in Key West. A real nice guy. As we were chatting, the Olympics was on every screen.

Nate was bartending. I had not seen him in a while. One of the nicest guys in Key West. He was earning his pay last night. Busy, busy.

My former bocce team mate Lori came in. She looked terrific! It was friday night in Key West!

David and I stopped back at Don’s Place for a night cap. Kurt was bartending. I like Kurt. Kurt has had a beard for years. He was making suggestions as to how I should trim mine. So had David during the evening. David looks like Santas Claus.

I have to baby sit at 9. Taking Robert and Ally to breakfast. Probably Harpoon Harry’s.

I was totlaly impressed by the Olympic opening show. Top shelf theater. I trust Romney will find nothing negative about it. The show was perfection.

Enjoy your saturday!

SHOPPING AT SEARS / DINING AT BIG TEN SPORTS BAR

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Ten this morning! The Key West Lou Legal Hour!

Broadcast world wide on the internet. www.konkbroadcasting.com.

Join me. Fast moving and interesting.

My trip to Italy and Greece is just around the corner. About ten days away. I picked up some things for the trip. Like new shorts and bathing suits. Shopped at Key West’s store of choice for men. For women, also. Sears! There is nothing else of consequence in Key West.

Ally was still sick. I was scheduled to babysit in the afternoon. Lisa telephoned and said Ally wanted bagels. So I stopped at Publix and picked up six.

Ally looked a lot better. She had returned to the world of the living. It is amazing how young children look so beat up when they are ill. Ally was talking and coloring. The anti biotics were working.

Ate at John Lucas’ Big Ten Sports Bar. Watched Miami/Indiana. Miami obviously misses Bosh. Miami better get its game together. Or they are going to lose. They are already down 2-1. Miami was beaten by roughly 20 points last night. The difference in the score was not in any one’s contemplation.

John stopped by. Several times actually. It was his night off, but he came in any how. I like John. A good person. We have become friends.

Valerie and Clayton were at the bar talking with John as I was leaving. John gave me a hug, Valerie a kiss, and Clayton a hug. A big night for me!

Valerie and Clayton own Vino’s on Duval. A good place to stop. Enjoy a glass of wine, some good company, and watch the world go by.

I have to move this morning. Need to be at the studio one hour before the show to review my notes.

Enjoy your day!