Numberz

I'd thought I'd offer a quick explanation on why I'm calling this blog "The 43" -- it's simply my favorite number.

I admit it's an odd favorite number, but it's semi-unique as far as favorite numbers go. There aren't many notable athletes with 43, the only ones I found when I Googled it were Dennis Eckerlsey, Richard Petty and Brad Daugherty. I think I picked it up in high school when a girl I liked lived in a suburb that could be reached by taking Illinois 43 (Harlem, then Waukegan Road for you Chicagoans). The number stuck long after I wised up on the girl.

Anyway, I chose "The 43" because it was a little more non-specific. I debated maybe tying in the stay-at-home dad angle into the title, or some '80s reference, but in the end, liked "The 43" best.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nobody did it better

After Lori recorded it on our DVR, I finally got around to watching A Football Life: Walter Payton (link shows a clip from the show) that aired on NFL Network. It brought back some good memories. In 1977, as a second-grader, I started watching football for the first time. I collected football cards. I remember not only watching the Bears in the early game, but watching late games, usually on NBC, after the sun had gone down that dark November and December. My first lesson in my NFL education was an amazing one: Witnessing Walter Payton's incredible 1977 season in which he rushed for 1,852 yards (in 14 games) and helped the Bears to the playoffs. CBS gushed over Payton all season, setting his runs captured by NFL Films to song: Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better." I hear that and still think back to that late fall and winter. I don't know how much local radio played the song (and this was a memorable winter for music), but CBS was all over it. I remembered many ...
Read more

Seems like yesterday, but it was long ago

One of my favorite songs is Bob Seger's "Against the Wind." Being somewhat overly nostalgic, it's always resonated with me, even when I was a teenager. In 1984, we were on a weekend trip at a resort in Wisconsin (a longer story for another post), and I was incredibly bored and listened to the only tape I brought for my Walkman over and over, just songs taped off the radio. One of the songs was "Against the Wind" and somehow, only at 13, I recognized the reflection the lyrics invoke, of being young and taking life head on, growing up in a blink of an eye and being wiser yet a little sad. Of course, just about every Bog Seger song is about that same theme ("Beautiful Loser," "Like a Rock", "Night Moves", "Roll Me Away," you can even make a case for "Old Time Rock 'n' Roll"), but this one always stuck with me. Another reason I like "Against the Wind" so much — the line: "Those drifter days...
Read more

Another Saturday night, and I ain't got nobody

Saturday nights, 1979-81 My father worked most Saturday nights during this time, and I'm frankly at a loss at what I did to pass the time when I was a kid during these years. In the summer, I'm sure I was playing outside until it got dark (and sometimes past dark, my mother didn't like when we'd play Jailbreak -- think Kick the Can without a can -- and run through alleys). but the rest of the year, if I wasn't by a friend's house, Saturday nights were, maybe, bleak, especially during the winter. This was before cable, so our TV options were limited: "The Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island," but sometimes I wouldn't be in the mood. Perhaps I'd watch "Wild Kingdom" or a basketball game. Or, maybe I put on a movie on our Betamax. We owned only one car, so Mom didn't take us out on Saturday nights. We wouldn't have an Atari until November 1981, so that wasn't an issue, and I'd be lucky if I could get my sister to pla...
Read more