In Memoriam, 9/11

Twelve years. I don’t know if it feels like yesterday or decades ago. That day remains vivid in my mind, however. It was a clear blue Tuesday morning. What I have a hard time remembering was September 10, 2001. I remember going down to court the week before. The courthouse was not far from the World Trade Center. Coming out of the subway the Towers were to my left in the distance, dominating the skyline. I go to that same subway station and I have a hard time remembering how the towers looked from that view, especially with the gleaming One World Trade rising in their place. It puzzles me. Pre-9/11 seems like a dream. Maybe that’s why I can’t tell if it feels like yesterday or in the distant past. There seems to be no prologue. Just the post-9/11 world that I’ve become accustomed.

I can look back on my life of the last twelve years and so much has changed. I got married, bought a house, we have a son and a daughter. Life has endured, as America has endured despite what had happened. That was probably the hardest thing to foresee on 9/11. How life would go on.

Nearly three thousand people were murdered that day and their loved ones have had to find a way to live on, and they have. Then there are the 9/11 first responders who have died from cancer and other illnesses, or are sick now, brought on by the toxic fumes from the ruins. There are countless articles and exposés on them out now to commemorate the anniversary. To the survivors, this past decade has been an elegy.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!!

To my father, uncles, brothers-in-law, friends who are fathers, and all fathers going strong or dearly departed, Happy Father's Day!!!!

Memorial Day

Forty-two years ago this weekend, the United States celebrated its first Memorial Day as an official federal holiday. Hard to believe that it took so long for such a holiday commemorating the U.S. men and women who died while in military service to become official, but it did. The holiday original began in the 1860s to honor the Union soldiers of the American Civil War and was then known as Decoration Day. Many states of the U.S. South refused to celebrate Decoration Day. The alternative name of Memorial Day was first used in 1882 and did not become more common until after World War II. It became the official name by Federal law in 1967 and by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968, Memorial Day became an official federal holiday. The act took effect in 1971.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!

To my mother, wife, sister, mother-in-law, aunts, sisters-in-law, friends who are mothers, and all mothers going strong or dearly departed, Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Playoffs at The Garden

The best memories I have of Knicks playoff games at Madison Square is in the 1990s. It was the Ewing-Riley era. It started in 1992 for me when I was stationed in Korea and the games were shown on armed forces television. That was when the Knicks took the eventual NBA champion Bulls to 7 games in the second round.  The Knicks had the X-man, Xavier McDaniels, my favorite player besides Ewing.  Then it was 1993, their best season since the 1970s and the Knicks went up 2-0 against the Jordan Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals.  Then Charles Smith ruined everything.

 

The next year was the best in my memory, with the Knicks finally making it to the NBA Finals.  They had many memorable home playoff games that postseason.  They had Oak's 20-20 game in the first round and Game 7 against the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals where a victorious Ewing waved his hands triumphantly to the crowd.  Then there was the Game 5 victory to put them up 3-2 against the Rockets in the Finals.  That was the last game they'd win in the series.

 

After that even though the Knicks still won 50 some games every year until the Millenium, the magic at the Garden wasn't the same.  Their biggest victories came on the road, like Houston's game winning shot in Game 5 against the Heat in 1999.

 

But, now, finally in the Melo era there is hope.  Their injury racked 54 win, Atlantic Division Champion season was the best in nearly 20 years.  Like 1994, they're the 2nd seed in the Conference and they have their best player since Ewing, a superstar in his prime playing at his very best.  Who knows if their championship draught will end any time soon, but at least starting today, Game 1 of the first round has the chance to create great new memories at The Garden.

HAPPY EASTER!!!!

To all those who celebrate Easter, may you all have a Happy Easter filled with love and joy.

Good Friday, the True Date

Today is Good Friday, the solemnest day in the Christian calendar, which commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. The traditional year for the date of Jesus’ crucifixion is 33 CE (Common Era, aka AD), but this is based on the false premise that Jesus was born the year before 1 CE and died at the age of 33.

The actual date for Jesus’ crucifixion is Friday, April 5 in the year 30 CE. Matching the Gospel accounts with the Hebrew and modern-day calendars, the year 30 CE is the sole viable choice because that was only year in Jesus’ late adult life where Friday was the end of the first day of Passover (which began Thursday evening). According to Scripture, Passover begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew Calendar. Passover in the year 30 CE was on the night of April 4 (Nisan 15, 3790) and the Last Supper was a Passover Seder.

Knowing the precise date is easier than knowing where the term Good came from. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia: “Some say it is from ‘God’s Friday’ (Gottes Freitag); others maintain that it is from the German Gute Freitag, and not specially English.”