Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues

Watching Monday Night Football years ago, the camera panned a mostly empty upper deck of a stadium where the home team was getting creamed in the fourth quarter. The network was going bananas, the game was a stinker. The camera focused on a drunk asleep and moved in for a close up. The guy woke up and must have seen himself on a screen inside the place, because he gave the camera the finger. Without missing a beat, Don Meredith said, "Look, he's saying our team is number one!"

There are certain Cowboys who broke my heart but I grudgingly admired: Walt Garrison, Roger Staubach & Don Meredith.

In 1966 & 1967, The Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers played each other in the NFL Championship games. Don Meredith led the upstarts against the vintage Lombardi wine. As a 12 year old Giants fan, I was devastated. My team stunk, the parishioners in the Church of Mara were suffering. The coach of the Cowboys was Tom Landry, former defensive coach of the Giants. The coach of the Packers, Vince Lombardi, the former offensive coach of the Giants. How could Mara let these guys go?

And the Cowboys were led by a cool QB, that I couldn't hate. Peter Gent wrote knowingly of Meredith in his book, "North Dallas Forty." Everything I imagined about Meredith was true. And the guy was loved, and did a tremendous amount of charity work throughout his life.

Three cheers for Dandy Don.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4rrFgYYJ0s

.

.

Paris at Night ~ Tom Landry in the Louvre

Took pictures of Paris after dark outside Elodie & Thetje's window. At last light, caught their neighbor, Shep, across the courtyard. Viewed the Eiffel Tower straight up through the tangle of steel.

On the Oise River strolled a medieval fair where Alison conjured up a memory of slaying dragons.

Then a most disturbing thing. Found evidence of the Anti-Christ in France. In a painting at the Louvre there was the familiar fedora and profile of Tom Landry prowling the Cowboys sideline. Next day at Versailles the Texas Lone Star peppered a rug's pattern. This could not be a coincidence. I hung onto the fact the Giants defeated Dallas twice last year and I prayed to Allie Sherman.

Men Without Hats

.
.
.
.













Sometime in the late 1980s' I ran into Tom Landry at a midtown saloon during a New York Giants alumni party. I wasn't able to talk to Tom because of the noise volume, but I was able to convey my appreciation for all the Cowboys have meant to me with sign language. In return, Tom gave me the universal "be fruitless and multiply" signal when no one was looking.
.
*************************
.
Metropolis Magazine wrote a solid review for Tom Beller's "Lost & Found" New Stories Anthology, see it below:
.
http://www.metropolismag.com/pov/20090921/bookshelf-lost-and-found-stories-from-new-york