And So This is Christmas…..
Woke up very thankful today. No matter what you think of our shackled and bedraggled (probably not entirely accurate but 2 of my favorite words) Flapper Stix, it’s gotta suck to wake up in the clink on Christmas. So to honor his commitment to our team and this community and for all the other Flappers far and wide, I’m re-posting a classic Stix Christmas tale. Enjoy. Whatever you do today be thankful and enjoy. And if you can’t do that, just don’t be a dick. Life isn’t perfect for anyone but we all have two things in common: we woke up today, and it wasn’t in prison. So there’s that….
Merry Christmas to all the Flapzoners. Looking out my Northwoods window there is a sea of white flocking on the lilac bushes and the ash and apple trees. Sky is a light grey. A few lazy flakes are taking their good ol time establishing a landing-pattern. It’s nine above zero outdoors. Dogs are out on an Oouffspedition, running free around the countryside. Outdoor cats are coping after breakfast and will get some treats later. Couple of the housecats got put out, one cause he wanted out and the other to chill. Woodstove is keeping the house cozy. Breakfast was cake and icecream with hazlenut coffee. Cuppa tea and a clementine next to the keyboard. Ready for a lazy day, mostly indoors.
Basking in the warm afterglow of the WS win. Last evening, driving home from a birthday party for aunt Mary Christine, her 91st, a Queen tape was playing. As i neared the driveway “WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS” was pounding outta the speakers of the ol’ pickup, distinguished by its hacker axe poised in the left front stakehole, with steel grainscoop snowshovel nearby and the 1976 Huskvarna-65 chainsaw perched between a couple small logs and some ballast rocks towards the rear.
Ahh, country living. Late afternoon lunch/supper will, according to current hankering, likely be venison-based spaghetti, with onions and jalapenos from the garden ~ or maybe, if ambition strikes, it will be based on some very nice looking scallops purchased at an old-fashioned butchershop only 25 miles from home. But the laziness may overcome the fascination, as i have zero experience in preparing scallop dishes.
Back to the woodcarving in a few minutes. Flavor, i haven’t forgotten about the ‘One Flap Down’ piece. Creative types are not as reliable as most folks. The right mood has to hit at the correct time. Will know it when it happens. Thanx again, for all the energy you have put into this site, Craig. Really did dig the “Area 51” hook for the countdown to stage one of the next SF championship.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
10 bucks says a can of v8 got cracked open when he finally got around to preparing those scallops….. 🙂
And could the end of his tale be any more *Stix*? Always appreciative but not able to stop himself from being drawn to a good old fashioned conspiracy theory. I really do miss that guy.
Merry Christmas, Craig, and to all Flappers everywhere in Flap Universe. Yes, I would think it would stink to wake up in the clink on Christmas Day, but maybe ol’ Stix has spent a lot of said mornings alone anyway. *Alone* and *lonely* are often not at all the same thing. Living in Asia for the past 12 years, I’ve been away from “home” (family) on Christmas all that time, until this year, but never alone, and rarely lonely.
The exception was 3 years ago right now, when I was taking a year’s break from life in Saigon and doing some intensive university lecturing gigs in China again, and I had to finish out Fall term ’13 teaching a 4-week intensive marketing course to very bad students in Wenzhou, a completely non-descript industrial city in the northeast. I arrived there on 12/23, and my course actually started on Christmas Eve day. All the other Westerner lecturers had left already, and it was f-ing freezing cold, and nothing to do. I remember waking up on Christmas morning, lying there in bed before getting up to walk across campus for class, just feeling… numb, vacant, whatever. Alone and lonely for the first time ever, really, in all my years in Asia.
After classes, as coldness and dusk settled over the campus, I walked over to the student canteen for dinner (actually, they made very good fresh noodles there, the place’s saving grace), washed down with local bai jiu (hallucinatory rot gut rice wine), and then weaved my way back to my apartment, wondering what to do on this Christmas night… when a small group of students came strolling by, singing Christmas carols, in English. It brought tears to my eyes… in a good way. Just that one simple moment made everything ok. I wanted to hug them all. Actually, I would’ve taken more than just hugs with a couple of the little lovelies…..
Anyway, to all of my fellow Flappers, wherever you are and whatever and whoever you’re doing, I wish you a merry everything and a happy always.
And for Loo: go Chiefs!
Potd. A classic. My daughter woke up and wanted to go to the gym so here we are, the only people in this gym, it’s a co-op so you just let yourself in when you want to work out. I feel the opposite of loneliness right now. Love this kid. Presents still under the tree, they will be there when we return.
That’s so great, Craig….
That’s awesome brother. One more blessing in a list of many, I am sure. Merry Christmas to you, Katie (sp?), and yours my friend. Blessings for a healthy and happy New Year!
Awesome post…definitely POTD material. Hoping your holidays are filled with happiness and good health, Paul.
Thanks, Chuck, you too!
Nothing like old baseball cards. Thx for B/R rundown on ’75, with the Count, Murcer, all the guys in other team caps at the top like Von Joshua Willie the Phillie. Notice attendance dead last in league and of course Sarge and Maddox went on to greener pastures.
Snarkk, Vince Guraldi was pianist on one of my fav latin jazz recordings of all time with Cal Tjader, titled Latin Concert from 1958. Just listened to “Viva Cepeda” great cut dedicated to the big rookie 1b.
Basking posts from 2010 winter pretty cool. 2011 was such a downer but it’s amazing to look to the right there and see all the rings won by teams full of completely different players. 2017 is doable; just don’t want to see LA make one more big move while Evans sits on his hands and says the lux tax ate his LU.
“A few lazy flakes are taking their good ol time establishing a landing-pattern”
How is this guy not a famous American writer?
I fast tracked Asian Paul’s POTD straight to #65 of the POTD-best of. Brilliant stuff.
I am deeply honored. Life itself can be brilliant stuff…. 🙂
Wishing all my Flapper brothers a healthy and happy holiday season, and a New Year filled with the best of health, happiness, and good fortune.
~52 daze until pitchers and catchers report. Play Ball!
you too, bruh. Always thankful.
Merry Christmas all you great Giants fans!
What did you get for Christmas? I had correspondence with your wife. She was focused up on finding you something specific!
Haha, she told me about that. It was supposed to be Pawlie’s new book, but she ended up getting me the previous ones when she couldn’t find it on Amazon. The best part is all the more book sales for Pawlie!
Hey saw the Hall whipped Rutgers (soft sched for inflated record?), nice Ws lately after losing to Stanford team that likely is NIT fodder.
Good luck to Monmouth Hawks once league season starts.
RU-SHU was close most of the way, SHU pulled away late. MU beat Princeton earlier in the week, both teams getting 90 or more, definitely not Carril’s Princeton. MU plays at the Dean Dome this week.
Holidays I am fortunate enough to be invited to friends house for dinner/gift exchange yada yada. One of the “traditions” there is to watch Godfather (all of them) movie all day. I’ve seen them countless times(tho only first one all the way through) but I still have couple questions:
What was Michael’s beef with the Meyer Lansky inspired
jewish crime boss he tried to take out over in Cuba?
What was Fredo doing with Johnny Ola? Was he supposed to arrange hit on Michael?
So many great one liners…
Sounds cool. And first Godfather has a Christmas-time scene, so it’s sort of a Christmas movie.
Wishing a happy day to all you Flappers.
The thread reminded me of a 45 I have by Doug Legacy and the Legends of the West (Ry Cooder, Jim Keltner, Van Dyke Parks, Warren Zevon and others). Gotta love this line. “It was Christmas in prison and the food was real good. We has turkey and pistols carved out of wood ..”
Cheers y’all
NIce Ford…
that Warrior game was….irritating…
I told my son they were going to foul whoever got the ball and it wouldn’t get called. Had KD gotten the wayward pass on the previous play, the game would have been over.
George Michael dead at 53.
What a year…
this completely bummed me out. I wasn’t the biggest fan but he had a few songs that I loved. We are all going to be dead soon.
He was drunk – almost killed his friend, who IIRC tried to take the blame for it or something like that…
Also, another of many ludicrously retired Yankee numbers.
And I liked Martin a lot…
Merry Christmas Flappers!!!!
Thanks- same to you, but we’re all going to be dead soon…
Chiefs just dying to give this one away…
Denver can’t do anything on offense so KC is safe. For now. They’ll never get anywhere in the playoffs tho.
They never do, Chuck. I don’t know who they’ll play, but the Dolphins have a playoff hex on them that started 45 years ago today.
I’ve noticed that the longer the Chief’s holder (Colquitt) turns his head and yacks to the placekicker (Santos) before the snap, the more often he misses. Maybe he should try shutting the fuck up…
I beat NBC by 8 minutes on the 1971 game – because I’m better than them.
At least you won’t get the Colts.
You got that right, Mac…
Classic Loo. I can think of quite a lot of folks who should take that advice.
I enjoyed that Poe play, but they shouldn’t have done it…
sure and I don’t like that stuff either, but John Madden said if you don’t like what’s going on, then stop it.
Denver can suck it and like it. Any of the 4 old rivals in AFC West would do it to each other given the chance.
Warriors beat themselves again with too many dumb turnovers. Iguodala flat out sucked to day, one of those games that makes me wonder what he has left. Good as he was last year, the go to guy this year when they need it ain’t Steph no more either.