Howard Stern is running out of time in his current contract with Sirius Radio. Last week, he did two amazing interviews with Jay-Z and Billy Joel. Great radio. The interviews were sincere, candid, and compelling. Both Jay-Z and Billy answered Howard's questions openly and thoroughly, and answered questions about their creative process. Jay-Z is promoting a book, and the interview served its purpose as I'd love to read the book now. The Billy Joel session made me realize just how talented Billy Joel is, regardless of whether or not his music is your cup of tea. (I'd say the same about Jay-Z, except I already realized how talented he is.)
Overall, I reflected on the fact that these three figures were so compelling, as all three truly are New York icons. All three were born and raised in New York. All three are icons for our generation (maybe Billy Joel a little earlier than us), and all three have built their legacies on their own terms. None of the three are conventional, and none of the three sound like people we'd heard before them. They are all influential and have rich careers that have lasted years. All three still work and reside in New York primarily. To me, they are three people that are unquestionably different facets of New York People, who did it their way.
2) Derek Jeter
Recently, our own blogger Moon was on Facebook lamenting the treatment of Derek Jeter by the New York Yankees. Moon feels like Derek Jeter is a New York icon as well, and the Yankees are doing him a disservice by not treating him as such. Has Derek Jeter earned a substantial contract extension that might be a "thank you" of sorts for being the face of the franchise for so long?
3) Randomness...
(a) Blake Griffin absolutely shit on the Knicks last night, even though the Knicks won. These highlights rank up there with the athletic dunks of Dwight Howard, Shawn Kemp, etc... He is worth the hype and we can probably give him Rookie of the Year right now. Some manly shit from a guy with an un-manly first name.
(b) Your own WCF is laying down the groundwork to go back to school for a Ph.D. I do not want to reveal the details yet (superstitious, until it all works out), but stay tuned.
(c) Would any of your Teaneckites consider raising your family and settling in Teaneck? All of us seem pretty attached to Teaneck... why did most of us move to other places? Thanksgiving makes me think about how all of us attempt to reunite even as we have entered our 30s... and therefore that the allure of meeting up in our hometown still pulls at all of us... and I am bummed out that my knee keeps me from participating in the annual Toilet Bowl football game.
It was four summers ago (2006) that both Guiney brothers got married. Their bachelor parties were in NYC.
I found this exact subway token somewhere and figured, hey, I rarely go to NYC, so why not bring it? I'd probably need to ride the subway somewhere during this bachelor party, and why not save a buck or two?
I brought it to the bar where we were meeting up and at some point procured the token. I was ridiculed immediately by the NYC-dwelling folk for thinking that such an antiquated item would still be accepted in the NYC token. Many jokes were made at my expense. The moment came and went without incident. For some reason, I pocketed the token. And never did anything with it. And for some reason, I didn't throw it out when I got home.
So today I have thrown it out, but not before scanning it and posting it here.
This post doesn't have much of a point beyond that. Although, now I am wondering, is it kind of sad and nostalgic that there are no such thing as subway tokens (or, for that matter, slot machines that you put actual coins into)? Or, is it just an inconvenience to have had to carry change around for such things, that is thankfully not so anymore? And, let's be honest, pocket change of U.S. currency is becoming pretty much obsolete in today's world.
Speaking of songs, I spent the past few days in New York City and decided that Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" was one of the five most brilliant songs ever made. It's like Jay made the decision: "It's 2009 … I've made enough money, I've cemented my legacy, I married Beyonce … really, I guess the only thing left would be to supplant Sinatra with the No. 1 New York-centric go-to song that (A) goes through someone's head every time they walk around Manhattan, and (B) gets played before and after every New York sporting event for the next 25 years, and if that's not enough, becomes a mortal lock to get played at Manhattan clubs once an hour for the rest of eternity. Tough task, but I think I can pull it off. I'm Jay-Z."
Walt Clyde's brother, Beer-on-the-Girl, turned 30 on Halloween. We rocked it out in style for his birthday. Halloween night - NYC. Then, to Atlantic City for debauchery. (Though, I must say, I am vowing NEVER to go to Manhattan on Halloween in the future, especially the next time Halloween falls on a Friday or Saturday. It was absolutely insane.)
As at least three-quarters of you readers know (which I'm confident is at least 6 people), I grew up in North Jersey, which is part of the New York City media market. As such, myself and most of the people I grew up with became fans of the New York-area teams. With all of the major sports, you had your option of two or three teams. Fun debates then arise: Mets vs. Yankees, Giants vs. Jets, Knicks vs. Nets, Rangers vs. Devils vs. Islanders. In each of the major sports, I find myself aligning myself as such:
Baseball: Personally, I found myself preferring the Yankees over the Mets, though I never truly thought of myself as a die-hard "Yankees fan". I've found it hard to be a die-hard fan of a sport where there is a 162 game regular season. Furthermore, I find it hard to get behind a team who buys success by outspending all the other teams. Now, I don't blame the Yankees for doing so - they should use their resources - it's just hard to get enthusiastic about a system where one team has all-star level talent at every position while others are forced to continuously auction off all of their promising young players for economic reasons. But I digress.
The biggest my level of fandom got for the Yankees probably came during my senior year of high school (1993-1994). My friend Chahifquoy would come by from time to time, we'd order a pizza and watch the Yankees play. This was when they were becoming resurgent again after years of being mediocre. I even had a Matt Nokes replica jersey (though, in retrospect, this was really random, I had to be the only guy who had a Matt Nokes jersey, and nobody but hardcore Yankees fans would even know who that is, as the Yankees didn't but names on their jerseys then (and still don't). He was the catcher
The aforementioned Matt Nokes. How many people could possibly have a Matt Nokes card? He caught for the Yankees during the early 90s.
Anyway...
Football: I was never really a "fan" of either NYC team, though if pressed on the issue, I probably slightly preferred the Giants over the Jets. Most Sundays if I sat down to watch football growing up, I would watch the Jets at 1 and the Giants at 4 (or vice-versa), and would want both teams to do well. My father grew up in Chicago and thus was indoctrinated as a Bears fan. Thus, whenever the Bears came on TV, and especially when they were good in the mid 80s, I'd watch them play and root for them. I still have my Walter Payton replica jersey in the closet somewhere. But I was pretty open about football, and just liked the games in general regardless of who was playing.
Hockey: I didn't know dick about hockey. I do wonder how people that we grew up with were Rangers fans, as opposed to Devils fans, when the Devils were good all of our lives, and were in our backyard. Though, I suppose somebody from another part of the country would ask the same thing about the Nets. Speaking of those Nets...
Basketball: This was the one sport I was very passionate about. In high school I became a die-hard Knicks fan. I taped many of their games from 1992 - 1995 or so when I wasn't home watching them. This was back in the days of Ewing and Oak, Mase, Starks, SWISH! Those gritty Knicks fighting against Jordan every year, finally making it in 1994 only to lose to Hakeem and the Rockets.
1994 did seem like the year, though, until the end. Check out this video:
Wow, haven't the 90s become dated quickly?
Anyway, it is interesting how people in North Jersey and NYC pick their teams to be loyal to. Most people who are, say, Yankees fans can justify it to you, can tell you when they became a fan and why, and why they prefer the Yankees over the Mets.
But, I think that it's generally accepted that people choose a team in their local media market to become a fan of. After all, the local team is the one that has all of their games aired and is discussed in one's immediate surroundings. And, if you choose to be a "fan" of a team that is not shown and covered locally, you almost have to have some other reason, like a family member who grew up a hardcore fan of some other team.
(Side note: Has that changed with the introduction of the major sports having sports packages where you can view any team's game in any part of the country? In other words, let's say you're a kid who grows up being able to watch any NBA team play because you have the direct access cable package, and you elect to watch Lebron James instead of your local team and you consequently become a Cavaliers fan, is that somehow less valid than being a fan of your local team? Does this need to be justified to one's peers?)
Ok, so what's the point of all this? Well, you see, I've been getting a lot of shit for switching allegiance in my sports teams. I lived in Northern New Jersey for the first 23 years of my life, then lived in the New Brunswick area, which I would describe as somewhere between Northern and Central New Jersey, for the next 6 years, and have spent the last 4 years living near Philadelphia in Southern New Jersey. Since I've set up shop down here, I've gotten into the local professional teams as follows:
Baseball: I'm still not a huge fan of the sport, but I do find myself now rooting for the Phillies, feeling sorry for the Mets, and having disdain for the Yankees and their ridiculous payroll. I don't feel like this is selling out in any way. I find the Phillies to be an easy team to root for.
Football: South Jersey is crazy for their Eagles. I have gotten swept on in this and watch a decent percentage of the Eagles games, hoping (futilely, so far) for their success and for an eventual championship.
Hockey: Still don't know dick about hockey.
Basketball: This is the big issue. I have completely lost my loyalty for the Knicks and thus, almost by default, have found myself lightly rooting for the Sixers. The Knicks have become a joke of an organization, and I found myself having no problem ditching them and moving on, especially when my local media covers the Sixers and they have become more interesting. I would say that I'm a bigger fan of the NBA, in general, than any one team, though it used to be I would say that I was a "Knicks Fan".
The point of this long post, though, is not to inform you of the history of which teams I like and don't like. Here is the question that I do want a serious answer to:
If you move from one city to another, how much time has to pass before you are allowed to switch your sports allegiance to the new city's teams? Are you ever allowed? Does it depend on other factors other than time passing? If so, what are these factors?
