Last night was the final game of the regular season for the NY Giants and the last home game for this year. They played the Patriots who came in to the game 15-0. Both teams had their playoff seeds locked in, the Giants the 5 seed in the NFC and the Pats the 1 seed in the AFC, so really, they weren't playing for anything other than history.
I have to say, that I don't remember the Giants playing a better game in a long time. Tom Brady and Randy Moss got their touchdowns to each set the record for passing TD's in a season and receiving TD's in a season, respectively. However, the Giants kept pace and were actually winning for most of the game. However, the Pats, led by Tom Brady, football's answer to Derek Jeter, lead them to victory yet again. Witnessing history was pretty fun, especially since it was a great game and didn't mean anything to the Giants playoff standings. I am just glad Eli, Jacobs, etc didn't get hurt. Congrats to the Pats fans on 16-0.
Let me just make one thing clear. I think the Pats going 16-0 is great. However, if they don't win the Super Bowl, the season is a failure. The record will mean nothing unless they go 19-0. The goal at the beginning of the season is to win the Super Bowl. How you get there is just style points.
Anyway, it was another great year of tailgating with the boys, Scott, Keith, Jared, Fresh (absent yesterday), Stephen Strauss, Stu, etc. Even Michael Strauss made a surprise appearance yesterday. The last game of the season is always a little depressing as I see the guys much less often January - August. Between now and the start of football season in September, we will get together for The Allman Brothers, this year in May, and a baseball game here and there. Jared doesn't come up again probably until Passover, the bum. As I always say, without the tailgate, I could skip the game. Thanks boys.
Also, Jared and I bid a fond goodbye last night to our partners in crime during the games this year. KC and Campbell apparently only had the two seats behind us for one year. They were won at a charity auction and the seats, believe it or not, belong to Giants legend Frank Gifford. Next year, they will be back in their seats in Section 220 and we will have to find new people to help us make fun of those that are inappropriately dressed for football games.
2008 is almost upon us...Happy New Year.
JN
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
The Hope Concert III
Last Friday night, I attended The Hope Concert III, which is organized by one of my favorite musicians Bobby Bandiera. As always, there a great line up was put together, but we found out earlier in the week that Bruce probably would not be attending. That said, the line up still included Jon Bon Jovi, Southside Johnny, Gary US Bonds, Mark Pender, La Bamba, and Tim McCloone.
This year's show was to benefit The Valerie Fund, which helps families deal with leukemia. Tim McCloone's teenage son Jack suffers from the disease. As I said during the show, if there is one person on earth who deserves a healthy family, it's Tim. He does so much charity work through Holiday Express that Jon Bon Jovi described him as "the closest thing we have to a saint here in Monmouth County."
It was great to see all of the guys come out and support the cause. As always, these shows are a celebration, dating back to the first one I attended, which was the Concert for Sgt. Pat King in 1998. Hard to believe that it's been 10 years. The music was great as always with the highlights being Bobby doing "Bridge Over Troubled Waters", JBJ and Southside doing "Broke Down Piece of Man", JBJ's amazing rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", and so many others.
After the show, Sammy and I hit the after party at Beuna Sera. Sammy worked the show, so I was totally in on his coattails, as usual. So after bs'ing for a few minutes with our pal, and master of the keys, Jeff Kazee (http://www.myspace.com/jeffkazeemusic), I found myself near the food (shocking) at the same time as Jon Bon Jovi. So I couldn't resist and I asked him, as an owner of a football team and a Giants fan, what he thought of Tom Coughlin. What proceeded was a pretty in-depth conversation regarding the coach, the quarterback, and the overall direction of the New York Football Giants. It was pretty cool to have such a down to earth conversation with a guy I have seen in concert countless times and who is a worldwide rock star and celebrity. For a good part of the conversation, he was just a guy from Jersey who was a fan just like me. Then, I told him that my choice when they hired Coughlin would have been Charlie Weiss, the current coach at Notre Dame. He then reminded me that he and Charlie are good friends and that he can't understand why he signed a 10 year contract to stay in South Bend.
The funniest part of the night is when Kazee came over and introduced Sammy to Jon. They chatted about The Garden for a few minutes and then when Jon turned his head to talk to someone else, I asked Kazee if I was chopped liver because he hadn't introduced me also. He assumed that since Jon and I were having such an in-depth conversation, that he and I knew each other. I knew Jeff wasn't being rude, but couldn't resist breaking his chops a little.
All in all...another great night at the shore with great music and great friends.
JN
This year's show was to benefit The Valerie Fund, which helps families deal with leukemia. Tim McCloone's teenage son Jack suffers from the disease. As I said during the show, if there is one person on earth who deserves a healthy family, it's Tim. He does so much charity work through Holiday Express that Jon Bon Jovi described him as "the closest thing we have to a saint here in Monmouth County."
It was great to see all of the guys come out and support the cause. As always, these shows are a celebration, dating back to the first one I attended, which was the Concert for Sgt. Pat King in 1998. Hard to believe that it's been 10 years. The music was great as always with the highlights being Bobby doing "Bridge Over Troubled Waters", JBJ and Southside doing "Broke Down Piece of Man", JBJ's amazing rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", and so many others.
After the show, Sammy and I hit the after party at Beuna Sera. Sammy worked the show, so I was totally in on his coattails, as usual. So after bs'ing for a few minutes with our pal, and master of the keys, Jeff Kazee (http://www.myspace.com/jeffkazeemusic), I found myself near the food (shocking) at the same time as Jon Bon Jovi. So I couldn't resist and I asked him, as an owner of a football team and a Giants fan, what he thought of Tom Coughlin. What proceeded was a pretty in-depth conversation regarding the coach, the quarterback, and the overall direction of the New York Football Giants. It was pretty cool to have such a down to earth conversation with a guy I have seen in concert countless times and who is a worldwide rock star and celebrity. For a good part of the conversation, he was just a guy from Jersey who was a fan just like me. Then, I told him that my choice when they hired Coughlin would have been Charlie Weiss, the current coach at Notre Dame. He then reminded me that he and Charlie are good friends and that he can't understand why he signed a 10 year contract to stay in South Bend.
The funniest part of the night is when Kazee came over and introduced Sammy to Jon. They chatted about The Garden for a few minutes and then when Jon turned his head to talk to someone else, I asked Kazee if I was chopped liver because he hadn't introduced me also. He assumed that since Jon and I were having such an in-depth conversation, that he and I knew each other. I knew Jeff wasn't being rude, but couldn't resist breaking his chops a little.
All in all...another great night at the shore with great music and great friends.
JN
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Welcome To My Blog
So I am not 100% sure about this blog thing, but I figured why not. A friend of mine, Jean Mikle, blogs for the Asbury Park Press (http://www.app.com/) and she encouraged me to do the same, although obviously not for the Asbury Park Press. I am still not so convinced that anyone will read it, but I figured it's good to get some thoughts out in to the world. Anyone that knows me certainly knows that I have plenty of thoughts.
So the most important thing that is going on in my life right now is the arrival of my daughter, Avery Song. The picture to the left is her at one week old.
She is a pretty funny six week old and Christine and I are really enjoying being parents. I have been meaning to write some notes from the delivery down, but haven't gotten around to it until now.
I was scheduled to go to the 4 pm Giants/Cowboys game on Sunday November 11. Christine's due date was November 17 and everyone convinced me that first babies are always late. Well, I wasn't feeling great and made one of the few adult decisions of my life and decided to stay home to avoid getting sick. Christine went to her parents' house for dinner so I could watch the game in peace. About 5 pm, Christine calls and tells me that she had her first real contraction. Apparently, it can take hours from that point to be in full blown labor, but 15 minutes later, she called and said that her water broke and that she was ok to drive herself home.
When she got home, we nervously packed everything in to the car that Christine had packed for the hospital. The funniest part of this was that in between contractions, Christine was actually trying to clean the house as to not leave a mess in case anyone stopped by while we were in the hospital. I was sending text messages to Jared, who was at the Giants game, which was a pretty funny exchange. David had to leave the game at halftime, which turned out to the right decision anyway in light of the game.
So we finally get to the hospital, get checked in, and family members starting arriving...and arriving...and arriving until everyone was there. All 11 of them were there by about 7:30 pm on Sunday night. Little did we all know that we would be in for a long ride. Once Christine got settled and the epidural was administered, she invited in my mother and grandmother for a quick visit. Somehow, Christine thought that some photos would be a good idea, so we did those too. Then, after that visit, Christine's mother joined us in the birthing room and didn't leave Christine's side at all. I was in and out of the room...getting ice chips for Christine...getting hot chocolate for myself (they had a great machine)...and giving updates to the family.
At about 11 pm, we all figured out that The Wizard of Oz was on tv. This was my Aunt Lori's favorite movie, and if you ask my mother, it was her way of being there with us. After a while, everyone starting taking naps. Jeffrey's snoring was pretty funny...as was the image of my grandfather sleeping on the floor.
Finally, at around 5 a.m., Christine started to push. The pushing really didn't go anywhere. She was working so hard and I really wanted to just reach in and grab my daughter. We were all tired, but I saw how exhausted my wife was and how much pain she was in. The pain medication really wasn't working well and she had to get a new epidural at one point. She immediately made friends with the Korean doctor who gave her the new epidural.
At around 10 a.m., the doctor informed us that the baby was going to be delivered via C-Section. This was not our first choice and Christine was pretty upset. I did my best to convince her that she did everything she could (she did) and that this was going to be the best for the baby rather than to keep pushing (it was). However, the OR was backed up, so we had to wait almost two hours until we could get in.
Christine was taken in first and then they brought me in to sit next to her. She was curtained off so I couldn't see them operating on her (thankfully). I was pleasantly surprised that there was a radio and that some classic rock was playing. When I entered the room, The Weight by The Band was playing. Christine wasn't so happy that I was singing along, but I was excited. She also wasn't too happy that I was talking to her doctor about the fact that he was wearing a Cowboys shirt (the Cowboys beat the Giants the day before).
The baby was delivered right at the end of The Weight. Officially, she was born at approximately 12:30 Monday afternoon. They held her up for us to see and asked me where my camera was. I thought I was in an operating room, so it was in my pocket and not in my hand. I took it out and was able to snap a few photos while they cleaned her. I wanted to cry. Christine was so out of it and so uncomfortable that I was pretty torn and very emotional. Just so I don't forget...the other songs I heard in the OR were Marvin Gaye's What's Going On and Ben E. King's Stand By Me.
When they finished cleaning and examining the baby, I went with her to the nursery where they gave her a bath, some tests, and I got to hold her. While I was holding her, the family was able to come in, four at a time, to see her (we were behind the glass). It was pretty emotional for me to see the looks on everyone's faces when they saw her for the first time, especially my parents and grandparents. It's amazing witnessing love at first sight.
Some other purely random thoughts...I was wearing my Greetings From Asbury Park shirt from Bruce's 1999 tour, which happens to be my favorite shirt, purely by coincidence. The only members of my family not to take a nap at the hospital were my mother, my father, and Christine's mother.
So we finally get to the hospital, get checked in, and family members starting arriving...and arriving...and arriving until everyone was there. All 11 of them were there by about 7:30 pm on Sunday night. Little did we all know that we would be in for a long ride. Once Christine got settled and the epidural was administered, she invited in my mother and grandmother for a quick visit. Somehow, Christine thought that some photos would be a good idea, so we did those too. Then, after that visit, Christine's mother joined us in the birthing room and didn't leave Christine's side at all. I was in and out of the room...getting ice chips for Christine...getting hot chocolate for myself (they had a great machine)...and giving updates to the family.
At about 11 pm, we all figured out that The Wizard of Oz was on tv. This was my Aunt Lori's favorite movie, and if you ask my mother, it was her way of being there with us. After a while, everyone starting taking naps. Jeffrey's snoring was pretty funny...as was the image of my grandfather sleeping on the floor.
Finally, at around 5 a.m., Christine started to push. The pushing really didn't go anywhere. She was working so hard and I really wanted to just reach in and grab my daughter. We were all tired, but I saw how exhausted my wife was and how much pain she was in. The pain medication really wasn't working well and she had to get a new epidural at one point. She immediately made friends with the Korean doctor who gave her the new epidural.
At around 10 a.m., the doctor informed us that the baby was going to be delivered via C-Section. This was not our first choice and Christine was pretty upset. I did my best to convince her that she did everything she could (she did) and that this was going to be the best for the baby rather than to keep pushing (it was). However, the OR was backed up, so we had to wait almost two hours until we could get in.
Christine was taken in first and then they brought me in to sit next to her. She was curtained off so I couldn't see them operating on her (thankfully). I was pleasantly surprised that there was a radio and that some classic rock was playing. When I entered the room, The Weight by The Band was playing. Christine wasn't so happy that I was singing along, but I was excited. She also wasn't too happy that I was talking to her doctor about the fact that he was wearing a Cowboys shirt (the Cowboys beat the Giants the day before).
The baby was delivered right at the end of The Weight. Officially, she was born at approximately 12:30 Monday afternoon. They held her up for us to see and asked me where my camera was. I thought I was in an operating room, so it was in my pocket and not in my hand. I took it out and was able to snap a few photos while they cleaned her. I wanted to cry. Christine was so out of it and so uncomfortable that I was pretty torn and very emotional. Just so I don't forget...the other songs I heard in the OR were Marvin Gaye's What's Going On and Ben E. King's Stand By Me.
When they finished cleaning and examining the baby, I went with her to the nursery where they gave her a bath, some tests, and I got to hold her. While I was holding her, the family was able to come in, four at a time, to see her (we were behind the glass). It was pretty emotional for me to see the looks on everyone's faces when they saw her for the first time, especially my parents and grandparents. It's amazing witnessing love at first sight.
Some other purely random thoughts...I was wearing my Greetings From Asbury Park shirt from Bruce's 1999 tour, which happens to be my favorite shirt, purely by coincidence. The only members of my family not to take a nap at the hospital were my mother, my father, and Christine's mother.
More entries to come...maybe. That's all for now.
JN
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