The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.
I have been working since I was seven years old – that’s right; I had a paper route to call my own at that age. My route was made up of only two long streets, Front and Second, but I had 101 papers to deliver every day, except Saturday and Sunday. I earned my money by collecting personally from each house every two weeks. I got to know my customers – all 101 of them plus members of the household and their pets. Each afternoon, I would see a lot of people.
As an aside, some of the pets were far from friendly. One cocker spaniel appropriately named “Inky” was particularly frightening to me. The owners used to discipline him with a rolled up newspaper, and, it seems, Inky blamed me for bringing their weapon of choice to the house each day. Each day Inky would wait on his porch to snarl, pull at his rope and try his very best to get a piece of me. I would laugh at his effort to free himself, until the day he was left untied on his porch. He attacked and managed to tear up my bag full of undelivered papers.
There was a parrot on my route who would announce my arrival each day. He would shriek “Paperboyyy! Paperboyyy!” as I arrived. It was a bit bloodcurdling, but funny. Adding this to the opportunity to meet and chat with people every day made me look forward to doing the job.
In school, I played on teams of people, both formally and informally – football teams, basketball teams, and football teams. College allowed for an even greater circle of friends. I became a teacher meeting hundreds and hundreds of students every year. Many have kept in touch. In other words, I have always been surrounded by many, many people. I miss them.
My television job has exposed me to thousands of athletes, coaches, fans, parents, and fellow workers. I continued to be surrounded by people, hundreds of them, and that made life fun and interesting every day.
Now, much of that is gone. I sit in my office most days doing my work through emails, texts, or phone calls. Most work-related outside human contact is done through ZOOM. Make no mistake; I am impressed by this technical marvel that allows people to get together without ever leaving their space. But… it is not the same. The first request in the meeting is for all but the speaker to “mute” themselves. The last thing I want to do is that.
I find myself wanting to talk face to face with players and coaches. I want to have spontaneous conversation prior to a game or a meeting. At a meeting with a group, I want to insert a zinger into the back and forth and relish the laugh, the groan, or the surprised look that one can only get from a group.
I wonder how long it will be when people can comfortably get together with non-family members and just be themselves again. I want to experience people again to the point where I will say that I would relish some “alone time”. There is too much “alone time” right now.
I MISS PEOPLE!
ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)
- The Lakers won the NBA title. Time to argue whether LeBron or Michael Jordan is the GOAT (Greatest of all Time). Get together with friends and argue about something other than politics.
- It turns out that maybe the biggest loss to affect the Eagles on Sunday wasn’t losing to Pittsburgh. The biggest loss could very well be the broken ankle suffered by Dak Prescott against the Giants. The Cowboys won, but will they be able to win without their starting QB?
- There is a part of me that is pulling for the Las Vegas Raiders to do well. You may recall that head coach John Gruden’s son, Deuce, played for Lafayette and John and his wife came to a number of games while he was doing Monday Night Football. He was always very accommodating to both our broadcasts and to the Lafayette coaching staff. Sunday, they beat the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. They previously beat the Saints, two teams considered Super Bowl contenders. Deuce is on the Raider’s staff and John is making good things happen in Vegas.
- I’m sure there was plenty of disappointment when the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Yankees to get to the American League Championship Series to face the Astros. The Rays have a tremendous bullpen (unlike the Phillies) and they came into the latest series 15-5 in one-run games. Remember they won game five over the Yankees 2-1.
- Our scheduled high school football games this week are Nazareth at Freedom on Friday night at 7:00pm and Easton at Bethlehem Catholic (at BSD) on Saturday afternoon at 3:00pm. Both are LIVE.
Gary’s Guesses: NFL Picks – (LAST WEEK – 9-4; OVERALL- 55-20-1 – 73%)
Tuesday, October 13
