Photo Friday: Football Season!

Our neighbors have an annual kick-off party for the Ohio State football season, and members of the alumni band show up to play. Atticus was entranced.

Aug. 27, 2016

Photo Friday: O-H-I-O

Some people are ready for football season. Others, not so much.

Aug. 29, 2015

Working in a Ticker-Tape Parade Zone

The New York Giants' Super Bowl win on Sunday meant a ticker-tape parade on Tuesday. Since this is at least the third ticker-tape parade in the four years I've worked in Lower Manhattan, it's old hat. But that doesn't mean my coworkers and I like it.

Obviously I have many colleagues who were extremely happy at the win, and a few went out to see the parade on Broadway, just a half-block away. But Giants fan or not, a ticker-tape parade results in many hassles for workers in the area.

It wasn't that bad for me. I normally take a single train to work, without transferring. However, that train deposits me on the west side of Broadway, and my work is on the east side. Crossing Broadway is nearly impossible on parade days, so I transferred to another line that goes on the east side. So far, no problem.

But the Broadway exit that I would typically use that deposits me a half-block from work was closed by the police because of the crowds, and all commuters at the station -- where something like eight subway lines converge -- were being herded to a single exit a couple of blocks from Broadway. I finally made it outside and fought my way south, when most parade-goers were heading north. Both street blocks that have entrances to my building were closed, but a kind officer let me through when I explained that I worked there. All in all, I got to work about 10 minutes later than I normally would have.

Crowds one block from Broadway, one hour before the parade.
Freedom Tower in background.

A co-worker was not so lucky. He had no choice but to start his journey to work on the west side of Broadway. Innumerable officers pointed him this way and that, and for a time he couldn't even cross Broadway. There was a clear divide, he said: Giants fans in blue, others trying to get to work in black. An hour and 15 minutes later, he made it.

When I left work at 6:30, there were still some stray bits of confetti (shredded paper, really), but the crowds had long since dissipated. At the bars, I suspect, or at home sleeping it off.

New York Giants Win the Super Bowl

The streets were filled with screams of joy, cheers and honking horns when the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots in last night's Super Bowl, 21-17.

It's fun to live somewhere pro sports teams actually stand a chance of winning a championship.

Sure, Ohio State is generally a contender in men's basketball and football, this football season notwithstanding. But a BCS championship isn't the same as the Super Bowl, and I've never been under the illusion that the Bengals or Browns would ever be in one.

Luckily, I don't really care. Still, it was fun to watch the Giants take on the Patriots last night, knowing that pretty much every TV in the tri-state area was tuned to the same thing. And even though I'd rather see an Ohio or Pittsburgh team in the Super Bowl (see last year's post on my sports allegiances), this was the next best thing.

In all honesty I wasn't going to lose any sleep if the Giants had lost. But I like having someone to root for, and I would much rather have the result be something that's going to put my coworkers and fellow commuters in a good mood the next day.

Rooting for the Reds and Buckeyes from Afar

I never thought I'd say this, but here it goes:

I miss watching sports on TV.

It's not that I don't have options. The Mets and the Yankees, the Jets and the Giants -- they're all on TV. But who I really want to see are the Cincinnati Reds and the Ohio State Buckeyes.

In Ohio you could barely escape from them. Sure, not every Cincinnati game was on TV, but it was rare if you couldn't catch at least one game in a series. And sure, not every OSU game was on a channel we could get at home, but we could at least catch part of it on the radio. Even the grocery store I went to in Columbus played the game over the loudspeaker.

This year I consider myself lucky. Already the Ohio State-Miami football game was broadcast on a channel we get. And, of course, tonight I'll be able to watch the Reds on the road to the World Series -- even if the game will be more than half over by the time I get home from work.

I'm certainly not a sports junkie. Just an Ohio fair-weather fan.

Being a Buckeye Fan from Afar

It's a blast being a Buckeye fan in Columbus when times are good.

But when times are bad -- like last Saturday, when Ohio State was unexpectedly beat by Purdue -- I'm happy to be 500 miles away.

After all, when you're several states from the scene of the crime, it's easy to pretend it didn't happen.

In Ohio, we would have been met by commentary of the soul-crushing defeat at every turn. Here, it's only on ESPN. Sure, news of the pounding was in the New York Times -- buried in the sports section. In Columbus? If it wasn't on the front page of the Dispatch, I'm guessing it at least took up a good portion of the front page of the sports section, above the fold. Probably both.

Call me a fair weather fan. Maybe I deserve it. But I don't like my mood for an entire day, entire weekend, entire season to be dictated by something so totally beyond my control.

Good or bad, the results are hard to ignore in Columbus. But when the times get tough, in New York I can stash the Buckeye necklace in the deepest corner of a drawer for a few days and hope for better times and less talented opponents.

OSU in NYC

I feel like I'm the only person in the entire city that knows Ohio State is playing in a BCS bowl game in about an hour.

I'm guessing the Sports section in yesterday's Dispatch was almost exclusively dedicated to the Buckeyes. I didn't see one story -- not even a brief!! -- in Sunday's New York Times.

Paul and I are watching the game from home tonight. The late start means we probably would have gotten home after midnight if we would've watched it with the alumni club in the city. Nevertheless, we're doing what we can to show our school spirit. We each have on our OSU gear, and as I write, Paul is putting together an OSU pasta salad that was a Christmas gift from Katie and Jay:


Go Bucks!

A Tuesday for the books

It's not everyday you see streams of toilet paper flying outside your window.

That was the scene today, about a block away from the Giant's ticker-tape parade in Lower Manhattan. The streets were crowded when I got to work about 9:15. A few of my co-workers had trouble making it to the building less than an hour later.

All morning through the early afternoon, horns and the crowd's chanting buzzed through the windows. Confetti -- shredded documents, not the pastel papers you see at parties -- flitted through the sky. A few whole pieces of paper drifted to the ground, and toilet paper streamed out of high-rise windows.

The whole thing seemed to come straight from the 1940s, but ticker-tape parades supposedly have a longer history than even that. New York's first was to celebrate the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in 1886. This was the first, however, since 2000.

Speaking of old-school, I voted in today's primary with a mechanical lever machine. I didn't know anybody still used those! I was in college when I was first eligible to vote and had to vote absentee. By the time I had my own permanent address, I was using electronic machines.

Not only is it Super Tuesday, it's also Shrove Tuesday. I always got donuts at Schuler's in Springfield on this day, and I miss it now. Instead, we're going to Little Cupcake- the best substitute.

Super Tuesday times two

I'll be the first to admit that I only watch about two-- if that-- NFL games per year. And I watch the Super Bowl just as much for the commercials as for the game.

Nevertheless, it was pretty exciting around here when the Giants won last night. People piled out of the nearby bars, hollering and chanting. Cars were honking for hours after the game ended. By about 10:30, I was almost wishing the Giants would've lost. Still, I'm pretty accustomed to the noise now, and it didn't even keep me up last night.

The ticker-tape parade for the Giants is at 11 a.m. tomorrow and will pass about a block from where I work. One of my co-workers said people will start lining the streets at midnight tonight. Our supervisor gave us all letters today that say where we work in case we have trouble with the authorities and getting through the crowds. Hopefully we won't need them.

Of course, tomorrow is primary day in New York as well. A story from the Associated Press speculated that the parade will hurt Obama's chances here because his supporters tend to share the same demographics as people who would celebrate the win. Probably won't make a difference-- Hillary's up in the polls anyway.

Tasty treats and sad defeats

Even 500 miles away, we still can't divorce ourselves from Ohio State football. When we aren't here to watch the games on TV live, Paul's sure to set the DVR. And since we have the Big 10 channel, I don't think we've missed a one.

Still, Paul was excited to watch the game with the OSU alumni club at a bar in Times Square on Saturday. Of course, he wasn't very excited when we left with a loss to our name.

The game was preceded by a visit to Bierkraft, a store selling (what else?) specialty beers in nearby Park Slope. He was happy with the selection but has been disappointed with the surprising lack of homebrew supply stores in New York City. As in, none.

After the game, we headed back to Park Slope for a visit to The Chocolate Room. Paul and I agreed to celebrate my new job at a place of my choosing, and this was it. It's a small cafe seating maybe 25 people at the most and sells only chocolate desserts and wine. I got a delectable piece of cake with fudgy frosting. Paul's hot chocolate was as thick and rich as fondue (which is also on the menu).

But today it was back to the real world. I started my job proofreading documents translated from other languages, and tomorrow I'll learn more about the writing aspect. Some good news: the dress code is superb (jeans are OK) and I get the day after Thanksgiving and all the typical holidays off (albeit without pay). And work starts at 10 a.m. I can live with that.