Busy times!!!

Hey all…quite a bit going on and of course my wordpress blog is always the last to find out about it! Not a good thing to be sure. I’m happy to say B-Sides is back live…the 1st show went FANTASTIC…great participation in the chat room and not bad on the viewer side either. Sports-talk show is still on the back-burner for now…one show at a time. Further updates on it will be posted as they become available.

Some condo shots

Here are some shots from the condo down in Florida…if I make a visit there the rest of my life I will be shocked considering I don’t fly and my health. BUT…it will be a very cool place for the kids to visit at and to show them that yes…there is a whole world out there! Until next time…be safe!

So far…so good!

So far so good with the B-Sides show coming back on time…if you would like to join my network for the show you can do it by going here http://www.bsides.ning.com Whe you sign up you will get your own personal page to do with whatever you like. As far as what features you’ll have go here… http://about.ning.com/product.php Talk to you all soon!!!

My Space…Facebook…not for me…BUT…

It seems like everyone has one anymore…a MySpace or Facebook page. I never wanted one…I always equated those sites to teeny-boppers and the such. To me it seemed like a headache that I didn’t want or need. Then the other day I hear about this huge number of sexual predators removed from MySpace. I don’t allow my sons to go anywhere near MySpace or Facebook. I have my blog here and a website for The Shift through Go Daddy. Plus a site at Blogger that holds all my audio archives. But I never really had a site per-se for B-Sides, which is a music/talk show. B-Sides always kind of tagged along with The Shift like a little brother you didn’t want around but he followed you everywhere you went. Aside from the music and talk part of it I also want to add some tech talk to the show at times. So it seems that little brother is finally growing up and he needs his own space. But where? Well, a friend of mine from San Diego helped me with that.

The site is a social network site…but nowhere near I would assume as crazy as MySpace and Facebook. And it is very user-friendly and has great admin controls so it doesn’t get out of hand. So that being said here is The Shift-B-Sides social networking page if you will. http://www.bsides.ning.com If you would like to join my network it only takes a few minutes to sign up…plus you will need to anyway once the show comes back on. Only members will have the chance to win the stuff I’ll be giving away…and you know my affinity for giving prizes out to listeners. Even though I am still working on the site you can still use it unlike goshift.net which is still not up due to procrastination on my part. That and my health to be sure. So if you want to join just click on the link and letter rip. When you join you will have your own personal page, blog, and the such. That’s about it I think. Have a great day! To Lee from Moohead Radio…my prayers are with you. Get well very soon.

Our prayers are with you Lee

One of my former colleagues from TPSRadio, Lee from Moohead Radio, recently had brain surgery. He is now in intensive care and from everything I hear he cannot breathe on his own and he has pneumonia. I lit a candle for him at my place of worship today. This is a very sad time. He and his family will be in my prayers.

February is coming…so is the show. (I think)

     So far, so good…I plan on bringing The Shift back in February. But I’m sorry to say that it will be in podcast format to start with. I have to knock the rust off. It will be available at www.scrantonpasportsshift.blogspot.com  I will announce the date very shortly. I have some components to hook up and tear myself away from the fun of watching my wife and 2 sons playing Rockband 2 on the PS3 my son got for Christmas!  Be back to you all soon.

    

Happy New Year!!!

     Happy New Year everyone! A day late but it was our son Christian’s birthday on New Years Day so things were busy. Not that I am the most prolific poster at my blog here anymore. I was looking at my blog stats tonight and I noticed there was a big spike on January 1st. Interesting indeed. I’m very glad to see 2008 go away…it was a bad year for me in so many ways. Hopefully 2009 will be a much better one. I’ll talk to you all soon. It’s been a very long day.

Did you expect anything different?

There it is…here is what American League batters will see this year both at home and away for the Yankees…although I think the ballcap will not be as straight as this photo shows it. YES, the Yankees have landed C.C. Sabathia and by the looks of it we are not done yet. This signing is going to produce numerous reactions from baseball fans around the country. I would think the prominate one will be this one. “Here go the Yankees again, trying to buy another World Series title!” But I think that comment is as askew as CC’s cap is when he wears it. We haven’t won the World Series since 2000. Boston clearly has passed us as the spenders…they paid 50 million dollars just to TALK to Dice K! The Yankees don’t pay money just to have the rights to talk to a player…we pay it to put them in pinstripes. Now if you know me or heard any of my sports-talk shows on The Shift I have always been openly critical of tossing huge amounts of monies at ANY player…especially pitchers. The Yankees have cleared $88 million dollars off of their payroll. What did you expect them to do? Sit by and watch teams like the Red Sox and others just gobble these players up? Remember when the Yankees signed Reggie Jackson? Everybody went nuts then too…it’s all the same principle…the economics have just changed since then. One thing I have always admired about The Boss is that he took the assets he made in his team and re-invested it in his team…how many owners have lined their pockets with revenue sharing dollars and the monies their clubs made and did NOTHING to improve their ballclubs? I’m sure you can answer that yourselves. I’ve never quite understood owning a team and NOT WANTING to win titles. Isn’t that the purpose of your investment in the first place? The sad part of all of this? People like you and I won’t be able to afford to take our families to the ballpark to enjoy a game. We are being priced right out of the market. In the area I live in more than a half dozen people who ran trips to Yankee Stadium have thrown in the towel…they can’t afford to go on at the current ticket prices. I plan on making one trip to the new stadium this year just to see it. That’s it…just one trip.

     From what I am reading we are going hot and heavy at Blues-Jays discontent A.J. Burnett. I spoke to a Toronto fan that told me this guy is ultra-high maintenence…he basically is a hot-headed baby who needs constant attending to. But yet we are throwing like 85 million dollars at this guy for 5 years. I would let the Braves have this guy and go after Derek Lowe…far less monies and a pitcher with playoff experience. Then sign Pettitte for a year for less monies…Andy owes this ballclub as much…especially after his revealations about his performance enhancing drugs and the such. It’s time HE showed us as Yankee fans some love and takes a paycut. How do I personally feel about the CC signing? I’ve seen my share of Messersmiths, Gullets, Whitsons, Pavanos and the such…(I can rattle off more…believe me.) To me, a ballclub needs chemistry to win. Do I see it for 2009? I can’t comment on that yet. But I will.

Just a few things

Greetings all…I haven’t posted here for so long that they changed the whole format of things…kudos to WordPress on a job well done! A few things to update you on where I’m at with my shows and the such. I had planned to bring The Shift and B-Sides back live in January. Not gonna happen folks. I am currently going through a series of oral surgery procedures to have dental implants installed and it is a ROUGH GO so far. Turns out that the prednisone I have to take every day for my RA has affected me in a number of ways. It is a tough situation…I have to take the medication to keep all the swelling I get in my hands, wrists, ankles, and elbows at bay…but the trade off has been the need for the procedures I spoke of above. To put it bluntly it f’n SUCKS! So…the return has been pushed to February 3rd, which is a Tuesday…and in all likelihood it will be a morning show to start. B-Sides will have more of a chance at coming on at night because of its content…less of me…more music! Not necessarily a bad thing!  So that is where all that stands. One thing I CAN say…the time off from doing live internet radio has given me a chance to develop some new friendships and learn a whole helluva lot more than I knew about broadcasting than I knew since  TPSRadio.net severed its ties with my show. Actually it is a far better thing to be solo…especially on the creative side. However, the TPSRadio.net gig was a terrific learning experience also…and as I’ve said before I thank Ray Garcia for the chance he gave me on that. Sometimes things just don’t work out and both parties move on. Okay, I think that covers that.

On another personal note God has blessed my wife of 23 years and I with the news from my eldest child Cassandra that we will be grandparents again by late August or early September of 2009. Marianna is 2 1/2 years old now and she has brought such joy to our lives. Children are such a precious, precious gift from God. And it is SO NEAT to be called “POP!” Plus it gives us another grandchild to spoil ROTTEN and send back home! Ya see…things all even out in the end!

I would like to take this time to wish everyone out there a wonderful and blessed holiday season. I think having kids around me and raising them my whole married life has been terrific therapy for me. There is nothing like it. Don’t get me wrong, there are always bumps in the road…but it all works out as long as you remember they are alot of work to raise. I’d do it all over again.

I can promise you this…when The Shift and The Shift B-Sides come back it will be with a fury. It has been very hard for me to sit back and watch all the great topics and things going on in the sports world and not be doing a show. i would like to also take the time to bid goodbye to Yankee Fan Club Radio, who after 4 sterling years of Yankee broadcasting have hung up their cleats. To Ty, Uncle Joe, and Tony…your show will be sorely missed. It was a pleasure to meet you and the YFCR extended family up here in Scranton, Pa. a few years back at PNC Field. At least the SWB Yankees brought us home a Governor’s Cup Trophy! I would also like to say goodbye to Sports Surge Radio…a spinoff solo project of The 3 Wiseman’s Ron Cozby…we both came on TPSRadio.net around the same time. Ron I believe, is going to be back in some capacity though. It was also great to speak to Brian Wilmer in chat last night whilst I was listening to The Sports Buffet on Ustream.tv! Brian hosts Sports Matters on Thursdays from 7-9 pm EST. Check him out! Okay, that’s about it for now…everybody be good…and I thank you for the e-mails and your undying patience with me and my ailments. I will pay you back in spades when I come back…trust me!

The Shift & The Shift B-Sides use only Electro Voice microphones…the choice of professionals world-wide!

The Gorilla…Andrew Ashwood…know who he is?…You will

    Very few people visit this blog…mostly people who know me…maybe some stumble upon it on their constant sojourn on the web looking for God knows what…but I have to relate this story to all of you that do stop here and perhaps take a few minutes to read my gibberish.

    In this day and age of technology I’m sure we have all “seen” or “heard” it all; our resources are countless in regards to information…I actually beleive my mind we are LOST in the respect of what is available to us with a few taps of our thumbs or hands as we type. I’m not a “text-messaging” person…not that I can’t do it…it just seems like another way that the “Brave New World” funds itself. I’m very sure that thumb covers with advertising on them will come next…if you are old enough to remember this…PF Flyers had a commercial way back when when I was a kid proclaiming how if you wore them you could “run faster”, “jump higher”, and all that good stuff. Guess what? I was just a little kid, and I started a campaign with my Mom on how I HAD to have these shoes. She loved me so much I got them. To this DAY I remember the first time I laced them on…I ran about 30 or 40 yards up the sidewalk…stopped…and convinced myself I actually ran faster. And yes, I leaped in them too and came to the same conclusion. In the meantime, I probably put my Mom out some monies she needed to support the house and keep us safe, fed, warm and dry. That was the neat thing about my Mom…and I’m sure about your Mom too. The purpose of telling you this story? Read on…

     I listen to a TON of sports-talk radio besides doing it myself. I was an ardent ESPN listener for years…then I gradually egressed to Fox Sports Radio. Why? I felt ESPN was becoming too big for the listener…that they seemed to forget all about the listener. As for me, I have ALWAYS put my listeners above my agenda as a so-called “sports-talk person”…just ask them. I always spent and tried to devise ways to make them happy they tuned in to listen…prizes and giveaways were my best ways to express my gratitude. That will NEVER change with me. Simply put…I LOVE my following. They are a very important part of my life. Family to me. Period.

     All of the people who do Fox Sports Radio suffered a tremendous loss last week when Andrew “The Gorilla” Ashwood passed away at 51 from a massive heart attack after battling cancer for over 1 1/2 years. I’m sure you’ve heard of people dying this way before. It happens every day. But this was different…so very different. Everyone from Jim Rome and down the line ALL said the same thing about this man. He was a pioneer in sports-talk radio, and always tried to bring out the best in people…not just people that did sports-talk…but EVERYONE he met. Word has it that if he walked on an elevator he made friends with everyone on it before they left it. He was a constant people person as the Fox people tell it. He had a credo that went something like this…”Dare to be great!” I think it is something we can all live by. He also stressed how improtant it was to be yourself to them and for them to be themselves and “connect” with their listeners. Express their emotions…cry, laugh, be happy, be sad, show your emotions. I have NEVER seen such an outpourng of love as I have seen for Mr. Ashwood. He passed away at age 51…I’m 51…and when you read about someone passing that is your age…beleive me…it sends a jolt through you right to your very soul. My heart goes out to the Ashwood family, and all the people he influenced in his so very short time on this Earth. I often wonder where all these people go after they pass. Does God need them so bad? I think we need them more…right here on Earth.

     In closing, as I have in several E-Mails to Fox Sports Radio people I have befriended…I express my strongest condolensces to the Ashwood family and to all the people that are feeling the sting of losing your mentor and friend…a great video by Don Harris…just one of many who loved this man. Here is the link.   http://www.woai.com/sports/story.aspx?content_id=d0e2492c-95c8-4308-92f7-464b955693b3