The new Al Oerter rec center in Flushing, next to the pool.
Posts Tagged New York
NASCAR in New York
The NASCAR has some royalty coming .. .. at 42nd Street @ Lexington .. few fans were waiting out side. The fans are mostly blonde and chubby. .. .. errrrr I was not among them, cause I was busy groupie another idol.
NASCAR took of in the USA like wild fire out of control, burning bright in the south. Golfer took me to a race in Bethlehem, PA, the Andretti territory. The fans would arrive hours early to watch the pomp and circumstance; floats, parade .. We used to the short exits on LIE only to find out each exits on that highway in Pennsylvania was about 12 miles apart. We timed ourselves to be there on time for the actual race. After conquered the three long 3 exits and got into the parking lot, and found a place to actual park, made to the stand, the race was already underway.
Oh lord, it was loud.
The all white fans around us eyed us suspiciously. Many of them perhaps never saw an Asian before .. JK .. coolers, beers, .. when it was finally over, we were stranded in the parking lot for another 3 hours, because everyone proceeded to have their tailgate party in the lot.
Hash judgment
Giants suspended Plaxico Burress for the rest of the season. My gut feeling is, he might not play for the Giants again.
I like the fact that the Giants keeps themselves lean and clean – (Three Strikes and You’re Out – is so sick and kiddish. The baseballers are fooling themselve) Great. But, I wish they would have considered the un-remarked-upon fact that one of their players was attacked ..
BARBER: “Last week, Steve Smith, one of Plaxico’s fellow receivers, was attacked at gunpoint and robbed in front of his house so his mindset is ‘I have to protect myself, I’m a target.’” ..
Someone will be very eager to sign Burress ..
The match .. King Michael
Tonight’s 60 Minutes has a feel good interview: Anderson Cooper on Michael Phelps. They had a race in the pool: Cooper did free style while Phelps did dolphin kicks in one breathe. I don’t think any one would have a doubt as who won that race. Any way, I found Cooper to be pretty cool and now he’s super cool .. .. for his ability to swim free style in style. Does Phelps remind you of Eli Manning? Michael’s Mom works as a school principal who got emotional when Cooper told her that her son thinks the world of her. And the kid who trained every day for years that included his birthdays and Christmas to reach that 8 Golds in Beijing. Not to mention the 6 Golds he amassed in Athens in 2004.
Sosososo not fair .. Tooo tooo tooo bad that New York lost out to London for 2012’s. Did Bush cost New York its chance? The isle of Manhattan would have rocked for Michael!! !! Well, he’ll be the king of England no matter what.
A troubled childhood?
Giants routed the Redskins 23:7. The little Giants is 11:1 of the season with four more games to go before the playoff. They played a very clean and crispy game without Plaxico Burress who shot himself in the leg. I think he aimed at his foot but was too drunk and shot the leg; or better yet trying to stuff his foot into his mouth.. .. .. Self destructing.
The NFL players more or less have some sort of criminal elements to them. It’s a violent game and takes certain kind of human to play it. On the edge would be one. Like crazy wouldn’t be too far. They all have tattoos on their chiseled arms .. Burress himself admits that he is his biggest enemy. I thought about Mets old timers Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden. Remembered vividly at one game, when Strawberry stepped onto the plate, a father tuck at his young son.
“Look, Strawberry!”
Baseball is a long, slow boring game (sorry – it’s my opinion) and I often lost interest while watching. So I rarely watched. But when Strawberry came out, everyone perked up, including me. Who could afford not to watch this striking young gun at bat? He’s gracious, powerful and explosive. He’s face of the game (figuratively speaking .. poster on bus stops ..) and face to change the game. But .. .. in the end, he proved to be his own enemy. Burress is very striking too. Gifted to be so good at the game.
Do they have troubled upbringings?
Frank Cashen (?) the GM of Mets at time took a lot beating from the press/media when he refused to give Strawberry José Canseco type of contract.
“He has yet to fulfill his potential.” He insisted.
Strawberry rolled his eyes upon hearing it. But .. in reality, he didn’t do much after left Mets.
Burress failed to show up at the victory perade early this year. So did Gooden at 1986. What were they thinking?
I heard that most NFL players carry guns. Thought only former Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld needs to.
Anyone saw Tiki Barber interviewing Eli Manning, the QB he trashed?
What a lucky day ..
I just had a very eventful day. I thought of taking the highway to NJ for a meeting. But opted for the local to drop off Pumpkin’s racket for restring.
11:30am. Sunny, pleasant, a typical autumn day. I was driving on the Northern Blvd and got pulled over. Offense? Broken break light on the passenger side. The young cop, Mr. Park walked over and looked at my car, shout: “Your inspection is expired too.” Ok, that’s my fault.
$85: $25+$60 fine plus surcharge.
It took him 15 minutes to write up my two summons that were illegible: later at the Precinct, the young cop couldn’t read my license plate from the yellow summon.
After the meeting, I got the light fixed and did the inspection. Then parked at the Chase parking lot, did my thing in the bank and dropped off the racket next door. When I returned 10 minutes later, there’s white note on my windshield. I normally don’t look around, but thank god I did. A motorist damaged my right front bumper. He left me a note. Two guys were in the parking lot, and one of them asked,
“Your car?” One of them interrupted his phone conversation, pointed to my car.
“Yes.. ”
“That’s the van .. the green one, just left ..” then he went back to his phone conversation.
I chased out. Because the note he left with his cell # was missing a digit. He was waiting for the traffic light.
“Sorry, stuff happens. Call me with repair, I’ll send you a check.” He then added the missing digit, and sped away.
Life goes on.
I went to the 111st Police Precinct to get the car inspected. Because Mr. Park stipulates that if I get the brake light fixed within 24 hours, the ticket will be dismissed. The PO at the desk, first told me he has no idea as what to do.
“Mail this to the court with the repair receipt.” He told me.
Darn, Joe didn’t give me a receipt.
“I think you are going to look at my car and give me a form ..” I suggested.
He looked really unwilling. Then he asked a secretary who came over, fish out a piece paper. The PO must be really green. He read the entire thing.
When we went out to inspect the car, he said,
“I can’t sign this. It isn’t fixed.” He pointed to the driver side. Somehow, I remembered the PO who handed me the summon, mentioned passenger side.
The young PO re-read the yellow summon and chuckled.
“I guess I’ll have to sign it since the summon is for the passenger side.”
“Pls don’t issue me another ticket .. I’ll fix the driver side as soon as possible.”
He agreed.
I capped the lucky day with 3:1 sets of win on the tennis court, with William. The only loss came when I played against him. Did I mention that I got lost in and out of NJ? That’s just the icing on the cake.
While waiting for the car to be fixed, I went to eat in Flushing when I wasn’t even hungry. In this little basement mall on Main Street. I had dumplings. Why can’t New York have a decent dumpling house like the one in Toronto?? Hope it does just I don’t know about it yet. Did I lose my mind by going into this dig? Maybe. But it tastes pretty good. Freshly made. I probably would go there again. On another lucky day. Let me consult the 黄历 first .. 🙂
Final Week at Shea
Tuesday night Mets beat Chicago’s Cubs 6 to 2. It was an exciting game. Oddly enough, on a glorious day, the stadium wasn’t packed. I haven’t been to Shea for a while. Baseball isn’t my thing, way too slow. But I enjoy playing baseball or softball, used to play pick up games at Central Park. That was great.
It’s the final week there. I couldn’t wait for the area to be fully developed. The Wrigley Field in Chicago is wonderful, the home for Cubs. The streets were closed down during the game. The private homes that have good view of the game are converted to clubs or bars that renting out for parties during the game, with roof top areas. Golfer often flies over to entertain his clients at one of rented bars. Regardless of winning or losing, Cubs is able to packed the Wrigley Field every single home game. Can’t say that about Mets and Shea. But the Shea area is being renovated or beautified at the moment. New buildings are coming up. There will be a park too, I heard. WTG New York.
Liberty at MSG
Last Thursday WNBA New York’s Liberty beat Connecticut’s Sun. The Madison Square Garden got renovated few years back. The last few times we were there were all at the suit or box above. It’s ok place. But thought it would have been better. The Garden that night was not even half filled. Guess the girls don’t drew that many fans. They rarely score over 100 pt per game. Liberty’s highest score is 99 I think.
Kang Suh
Walking toward the Korean town from Penn Station, this restaurant is the first on your right. It uses Broadway as address rather than 32nd Street: 1250 B’way, New York, NY 10001. It opens 24 hours. The bbq beef was somewhat ok but the varied appetizers, for the most part, weren’t good, except the kimchi and mushroom. Not worth going again.We went there after the WNBA Liberty’s play off game against the CT’s. The Madison Square Garden was only third filled. Girls tennis draws crowds but not girlie basketballers.
Lehman and Citi
This was taken on Monday Sept 15, the day Lehman Brothers went down made public. Will this still be a Citi Field when it completes, or when the first bat strikes the fast ball next season? Lehman used to be part of Smith Barney. Smith Barney is part of Citi now. The IB looks gloomy. Lehman Brothers’ broker/dealer part is still doing fine, only the investment banking side that’s gone wrong.
Reportedly CEO Dick Fuld turned down a Korean bank’s offer last week – he might consider to have bodyguards 24/7 and even a gun. What was his reason for the refusal? The proud Wall Street icon should not rest in the Asians’ hand? I do remember WS’ reaction when Jap bought Rockefeller back then. It wasn’t pretty. Although people like to say the color of money is green. But I bet there are shades, and your green is sure not the same as mine: -nuances – such as political view/association, religions, race .. all kind of things made the shades.
Now .. it’s a huge global village now anyway.
