NOTE: I wrote this article for Goldmine magazine; it was published in October 2001, just immediately after the September 11th terrorist attacks. I worked with Richard K. Hayes of the Kate Smith Commemorative Society on the original article. This article has been updated for this blog post reprinting. They stood at the steps of the…
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Countermanding The Revisionist History of the Albany City School District
I didn’t think I could get more angry about the Albany City School District and its complete excision of the history of the Street Academy / Harriet Gibbons High School. From the school’s annexation into the District in 1974, until its conversion into a 9th grade academy in 2005, the Albany City School District treated…
Read MoreRemembering the 1991 Professional Soccer Championship in Albany
One of the players on the Skidmarks, a trivia team I play against at Elbo Room, is a huge soccer fan. He loves the English squad Arsenal, and he is hoping that when Thierry Henry plays for the New York Red Bulls, he can be in the stadium cheering it on. He also has been…
Read MoreA Memorial Day Blog Post: Victory Music
NOTE: I wrote the following article, which was originally published in Goldmine magazine in February, 1999. I wrote this piece after interview several members of the original V-Disc project, a program designed to bring music to World War II soldiers and sailors throughout the theater of battle. It is being reprinted here as part of…
Read MoreRemembering artist and illustrator Fred Fixler
When I used to collect vintage CBA and Eastern League memorabilia, I had boxes and boxes of game programs, including some from the Eastern League’s first season (1946-47). But between the 1950’s and early 1960’s, many Eastern League teams – along with college sports teams and high school teams – used a series of generic…
Read MoreThe Way of the Intercepting Fist
About ten years ago, I was freelancing for a Capital District monthly sports newspaper called CD Sports. It was an okay publication, they were one of the free newspapers that populated the region, along with Metroland and the Source. At the time, I had received word that a martial arts team from Albany had won…
Read MoreAh, the Days of Capital Cablevision
I think it was 1975, I’m not sure of the exact year or date. At the time, I was living with my parents in Colonie, in one of those mobile home trailer parks that still dot Central Avenue today. I came home from school, expecting to watch whatever was on one of the four television…
Read MoreRemembering “Sports Challenge”
During the 1970’s, one of the coolest quiz shows on television was a weekend quiz show / interview show hosted by Dick Enberg called “Sports Challenge.” Two teams would receive trivia questions from Enberg, and try to answer correctly to win prizes. Oh, and did I mention that the “teams” were actual professional athletes? And…
Read MoreWhy Keveny Academy alumni are not thrilled with Street Academy
This is a post from my old blogspot.com weblog, but I thought it would be nice to share it with a larger Times Union.com readership. One of my greatest high school achievements (hell, one of the greatest achievements I’ve ever pulled off) was when my high school, Street Academy, defeated three consecutive schools on WRGB’s…
Read MoreSiena’s First National Basketball Championship
You know, it’s great to see the Capital Region represented each year in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. It’s great to see the Siena Saints (and, on occasion, the UAlbany Great Danes) participate in postseason action. It’s produced so many memories for college hoops fans – the year Siena shocked the world and upset Stanford;…
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