Thank You

Over the course of my life, I've been lucky enough to do some pretty amazing things. In 2006 and again in 2007 I had the opportunity to visit Walter Reed Medical Center, Bethesda Naval Hospital and Camp LeJeune to visit with wounded soldiers recently returned from the front lines. On this Veterans Day, I wanted to take a moment to write about these experiences and what our soldiers mean to me.

My involvement in the Stewart Manor Fire Department (SMFD) has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Through this work, I not only get to serve the community in which I grew up but I also get to meet and work with some amazing people. One of these men is Bill, an ex-Marine who initiated a great cause to our village. As an ex-Marine, Bill became involved with Wounded Warrior, a project that helps our returning, wounded soldiers adjust back to civilian life. Many of these soldiers are rehabilitating their injuries and need everything from basic items such as toiletries and t-shirts to entertainment items such as books and DVD's for their stays in the hospital. Starting in 2005, Bill and a few members of the SMFD made a trip down to Bethesda Naval Hospital outside D.C. to deliver items for these soldiers. The following year, the trip expanded to include the Wounded Warrior Barracks in Camp LeJeune and Fort Bragg, North Carolina as well as trucks full of goods donated by the people of our communities. With each year that has passed, the project has grown bigger and bigger. This December, the fireman of Nassau County, including 2 dozen departments and cargo trucks filled with goods will be making their trip south to thank our troops in person. These trips will continue until as Bill puts it, "all soldiers have returned from overseas," a true testament of the commitment to this cause.

I made my first trip in 2006 where, along with fellow fireman, I visited with and dropped off goods for soldiers at Walter Reed Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Hospital. The following year, I made the weekend trip down to Camp LeJeune to visit the Marines. These two trips were both eye-opening and extremely inspirational. On these visits, we meet with soliders in various stages of rehabilitation from injuries suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some were badly burned; some were missing limbs; some were even blind. However, ALL of them were in good spirits. Amazingly enough, they were thanking US for coming to visit THEM. The courage that these young men showed in the battlefield was nearly exceeded by the courage and positive attitude they were now showing during these difficult times in their lives. On our trip to North Carolina, we made a separate stop at the home of Sergeant Eric. Sergeant Eric was injured in Iraq and due to complications from operations, can no longer walk or talk. Additionally, Sgt. Eric was recently married and has a young daughter. Upon hearing of his situtation, his community rallied together to raise enough money to build him and his family a new house that fully meets all of his medical needs. Visiting him in the house that his community built for him helped me to fully understand what makes this country the amazing place that it is.

I was recently watching "Section 60" an HBO Documentary (ironically enough made by someone who grew up in Garden City, just one town over) on the section of Arlington National Cemetary reserved for soliders killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Each headstone they showed revealed a soldier who was 20, 21, 24, 25 years old. I think of the impact that these great young men would have made on the world if they had not died in battle. However, those thoughts are quickly swept away when I realize the impact that these great young men made on the world during their all too short lives. By placing their country before themselves these soldiers show us what true courage is as well as all of the things we should be thankful for.

So here we are on Veterans Day. I want to say thank you to our soldiers and their families. Thank you for your sacrifices. Thank you for fighting for our country and defending our freedoms, in distant lands, far away from your families and loved ones. Most of all, thank you for making the sacrifices and decisions that I know I do not have the courage to make. The sacrifices that allow myself and everyone else to live the lives that we are lucky to have.

Thank you veterans and God Bless America.

Congratulations (I still kind of hate you)

I love sports. Whether it's hockey, football, basketball (college not NBA) or soccer, sports takes up a tremendous amount of my free time. Above all of these, stands baseball. Playing Little League, practicing pitching against my stoop, being Keith Hernandez for Halloween in 2nd grade or being a Mets season ticket holder are just some of the ways that baseball has played a huge role in my life. It's impossible to be a baseball fan without at least thinking about the Yankees. They're the most storied franchise in the sport and if you live in New York, they've returned to being the city's most dominant franchise over the past 15 years.

I didn't always hate the Yankees. As a child of the 80's, during my entire childhood the Yankees were basically a non-factor in New York during the days when Doc, Darryl, Keith and the Kid ruled the city. When the Yankees became good again in the mid-90's I was actually rooting for them, especially in the '96 World Series against the hated Atlanta Braves. However, as they kept winning my hatred of them began to grow but I soon realized that it wasn't because of the team, as much as it was their fans.

Yankees fans. So many words to describe them. If I had to pick three, I would choose......

1)Entitled. I would attribute this to the Steinbrenner propaganda that "any year without a title is a failure!" Shut up. Listening to the game last night on the radio and hearing John Sterling explain how Yankees fans have been waiting "a long time" for this title was just a bit too much for me. Hey John, this franchise has won 26% of all the World Series ever played.....get a grip. As Kate said to me last night, "the same team isn't supposed to win every year." Very true Kate, just don't tell that to a Yankees fan.

2)Uninformed. If you ask 70% of Yankees fans one question about ANY other team in baseball they wouldn't have a clue. Asking a Yankees fan who the rightfielder for the Phillies was before this series would be the equivalent of asking them who the goalkeeper is for Portsmouth in the English Premier League. Of course this is a "Yankees Universe" so how could I blame them.

3)Obnoxious. This is really the big one. Yankees fans love to remind you just how much your team sucks. These are the same guys that who have pinstripe jerseys with the names of the player on the back.

Anyway, the point of this blog is not to trash the Yankees and their fans, it's actually a tip of the cap to them. From the beginning of the year you just got the sense that this team was for real. Championship teams usually have a mix of comraderie (see corny/obnoxious cream pie ritual), late inning comebacks (see every game against the Twins) and even a little bit of luck (see Luis Castillo). Oh yeah and this team had the added bonus of spending 1/4 billion dollars on three players this year. (there was no way I could write about the Yankees without a mention of their payroll) Sure enough, after stumbling out of the gate, the Yanks steamrolled through the summer, won the division and the pennant. As if this season wasn't bad enough for Mets fans, we had to endure a World Series featuring the other team in our city with the jerk off fans vs. our division rival with even bigger jerk off fans (Phillies fans seem to have forgotten that they're the most losing franchise in the history of American sports and that they've won a grand total of 2 championships since 1883) Well sadly enough, I came full circle from 1996 and I wanted the Yankees to win, or more accurately I wanted the Phillies to lose.

Last night the Yankees won the World Series and in some strange way, the sports universe seems normal again. Maybe it's just that I had grown so used to them winning all the time that it was strange to seem them lose for so long. Perhaps it's because that scrappy franchise with tough blue collar guys came together and won one for their likeable owner.....wait scrap that one. Even though the next few days will be full of parades, keys to the city and those entitled, uninformed, obnoxious fans, in a weird way, it's kind of nice to have the Yankees back on top. For now, all I can do is survive the cold winter, waiting for the ice to thaw, the sun to come shining through and baseball to begin again.

109 days till pitchers and catchers.