Writing, Photography, and the life lessons I learned from Street Academy
Background. A couple of months ago, I was testing a photographic technique at the race track at Saratoga Casino and Raceway when – all of a sudden – one of the horses got chariot-clipped and crashed to the ground. It took more than two months for the horse, a gelding named “Just Vic,” to recover…
Read MoreOn April 26, 2015, I was photographing the horses at Saratoga Casino and Raceway (sorry, I still call it Saratoga Harness), when I discovered a horse named Just Vic. I didn’t have money on him in that race; but by the end of that race, he was the only horse I could think about. Just…
Read MoreWell, my interest in the upcoming “The Basketball Tournament” just jumped about 150 feet in the air. And that’s because former NBA star Jamario Moon has just joined up with the team. Okay, let me recap a smidge. The team that will be known as “Team Mill Rats” is participating in The Basketball Tournament, a…
Read MoreYou probably don’t remember Michael Graham. If you do, it was for his one year in college as a member of the NCAA championship-winning Georgetown Hoyas. Yes, the Hoyas that had Patrick Ewing and John Thompson, the big star-studded Georgetown Hoyas. Well, for the 1985-86 season, Michael Graham was a member of the Albany Patroons. …
Read MoreThe University at Albany’s Great Danes just made the NCAA tournament. And for a change, they’re neither the #16 seed, nor are they one of the “play-in game” entrants. Because nothing says disrespect like having to play an extra game just to be cannon-fodder to Kentucky. Of course, everybody saw what happened on Saturday morning,…
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I remember the day in 1981. A beautiful, sun-scorched June day on the campus of the Doane Stuart School, which offered its facilities for the graduates of the Street Academy of Albany on this very day. My high school diploma, my “first” diploma. I accepted it proudly. Along with the diploma came a high school…
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I saw the eBay auction and almost fainted. Is it possible? Is it true? Can this be real? I checked the pictures. The article of clothing was the right size and texture and cut. The fabric was distressed, as if that particular garment went through two years of stress and distress. And there were the…
Read MoreYou probably don’t remember the 2008-2009 Albany Patroons basketball season. Suffice it to say that the creation of the Penn Central Railroad wasn’t the biggest trainwreck in recent times. But the Patroons could still make an impact in the 2014-15 NBA season. Yes they could. Follow me. In the 2008-2009 CBA entry draft, the Patroons…
Read MoreIt’s January 2, 1991, and the Albany Patroons are hosting the Oklahoma City Cavalry at the Knickerbocker Arena (now known as the Times Union Center). Being a referee in the Continental Basketball Association can be as dangerous as shouting “Go Seminoles” at the University of Miami. Besides putting up with such original verbal taunts as…
Read MoreYes, I am a die-hard fan of the Albany Patroons, that star-crossed basketball team that came to our area in 1982, won championships in 1984 and 1988, left in 1993, returned in 2005, and left again in 2009. It was a team that sent several legendary coaches to the NBA (Phil Jackson, George Karl, Bill…
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Chuck The Writer 
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