Tuesday, August 08, 2006

August Observations

-It's funny how fickle we sports fans are. The Cardinals win an important game against Cincinnati by a big score and suddenly all is right with the world. A few days ago, after the Birds had lost 8 in-a-row, many callers to sports talk-radio were on the verge of bridge-jumping. I still think our boys are a very good team...but not built for winning the World Series....at least not yet. I'm willing to wait a bit to see if Walt Jockety pulls a rabbit out of his hat. I wonder how we'll feel about things if the Reds come back to win the remaining 3 games of this series?

-Spent the weekend in Chicago. We parents were on hand as son Stewart performed as a professional actor for the first time. Woo-Hoo!! He actually received a check...not a big one, but a check...as he reprised his role as Nick...a troubled teen who gets into a tangled mess after pretending to be different people in an internet chat room...in a one-time reading of the play Dark Play, or Stories for Boys. This play is a tremendously-written, and very disturbing piece, by one of his DePaul-Theatre School professors--Carlos Murillo. The ensemble cast presented it at The Goodman Theatre, in Chicago's downtown theatre district, as part of the annual Latino Theatre Festival Saturday night. It was very well received and has already been picked up by a theatre in Los Angeles for a six-week run sometime in '07. We're hoping Stew gets a chance to keep the role in the L.A. presentation too.

-We're also very proud of niece Lauren Heffernan. She recently was hired on to her "dream job" and is part of the team that cares for, and transports, the Budweiser Clydesdales to various promotions and events around the western U.S. Her team is based in the Los Angeles area. This weekend she helped present the hitch at the big Black Hills Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, SD. Augie IV was supposedly in attendance there...so the team had to be at it's best. It's great when very exciting things happen to good people...particularly ones you've known since birth.

-I read in the Belleville News-Democrat this morning, that the guy...38-year-old Terry Wright of O'Fallon...who two Belleville policemen shot to death Sunday during an attempted arrest, was "assassinated". That's what his mother told the reporter who wrote the story. You would expect her to be upset. But, come on lady. This son of yours was on the wrong side of the law...particularly when it comes to drugs...for a long time and had been arrested for violence toward law enforcement before. When are you, and many others, going to get that the police are, in the vast majority of cases, the good guys? But when you attempt to run over a cop, generally bad things will, and should, happen to you.

-Congratulations are in order for my friend Roger Wigginton who is celebrating his 30th anniversary operating Don Rodgers Ltd., the outstanding clothing store at 6727 West Main in Belleville. With Roger's enthusiasm and business savvy he's been able to make a go of it in a climate that, for many years, was not ripe for success. Now that things are getting really exciting on Belleville's West end, Roger will likely have more business than he can handle. At least I hope so. He's a good man and deserves it.

Damn! I was so looking forward to that St. Louis Dixie Chicks concert too. Not!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tom, it's Greg Kornfeld. Congratulations to you, Barb and Stewart on his perfomance in Chicago. You must be very proud! Hope all is going well.

Tom said...

Hi Korny...

Yes, we're very excited for him...and proud of him. I hope his future is as bright as it appears to be right now. Thanks for your comment.