The Art of Songwriting: Tom Brady (GOAT)

Posted on February 8, 2021 by Jim

I’m someone with considerable experience listening to sports talk radio over the course of the past 35 years. The week leading up to the Super Bowl has always been something I’ve kept on my personal radar. This year, the strangest year ever, things about sports (even the Super Bowl) seem to have been pushed to the fringes, shoved there by all-things-COVID.

Perhaps it has something to do with not really running with a tribe anymore. Or, not working in a physical space with other humans. Every workplace I’ve ever been part of would have had someone running a Super Bowl pool, soliciting predictions with a pot of cash going to the winner. Maybe New Englanders were depressed because their favorite son had found success somewhere else, out from the constraints of the Krafts and the Hoodie Man.

But this year, nothing: nada! Working from home, the daily Skype was filled with the usual inane banter about dogs and things people didn’t know about how to do their jobs. Nothing about Tom Brady, or thoughts about how New England’s favorite son might fare in the land of the sun. No openings to insert, “I just wrote a song about Tom Brady–check it out.” Actually, no one at work gives two shits about anything related to my life–I learned that all-too-well the week of the fourth anniversary of Mark’s death. Not one note or inquiry like, “how are you doing” from a team leader or manager. Oh well. Continue reading →

Going With the Flow

Posted on August 9, 2019 by Jim

If you don’t know how I feel about people who sow hate and division (like our president), you’ve obviously never read more than a post in passing. I’m not going to bother to summarize my politics or ideological leanings. I’ve left plenty of bread crumbs to follow.

I’ve written about playing the guitar. I continue to play.

The recent move cut into available time I had with my guitars. I missed the familiar rhythm I’d cultivated over the prior nine months of playing nearly every day.

We’re settling into a new place that feels right for us. We like the neighborhood and being within walking distance of an ever-evolving-and-vibrant downtown district is another perk to being in Biddeford.

I’m in week three of a new job. It’s been awhile since I actually enjoyed reporting for duty. My co-workers have been welcoming. One of my managers is a music aficionado and we share a similar interest in bands/artists, including Deer Tick. She was actually impressed with that one.

When I worked at Moscow Mutual years ago, the “mentor” I was matched with was a lousy trainer. She was narcissistic at best. I swear to this day that she purposely sabotaged my training for whatever reason. At the most basic level, she wasn’t a very nice human being.

The woman who I’ve been shadowing and who I’ve spent the lion’s share of time with in my new position has been fantastic. She makes learning fun and she regularly catches me doing things right. She is also an empathetic person of the highest order with customers, both internal and external.

Enough of work and real estate. I’m here to talk guitar yet again. Continue reading →

I Don’t Eat Beetloaf

Posted on February 5, 2019 by Jim

In the summer of 2017, my trusty Ford Taurus sedan, a vehicle I bought new in 2008, was pushing 215,000 on the odometer and growing tired. Maine’s winters and the deterioration they cause were winning the battle. My attempts at DIY body shop touch-up weren’t able to keep up, as “rust never sleeps.”

When you’re 6’3”, compacts and sub-compacts won’t do. I figured I’d remain in a sedan, and so began my search for a lightly-used vehicle that wouldn’t break the bank. I looked at several brands including Toyota, Hyundai, and Honda. It was time to end my Ford streak I’d been on since the 1990s.

I ended up with a 2014 Honda Accord and after Sunday’s ho-hum Super Bowl and the Hyundai ad dissing vegans, I’m so glad I didn’t opt for their Sonata.

Glad I have a Honda, not a Hyundai.

I’m sure the “geniuses” that populate Hyundai’s creative suite or whoever they farm their marketing out to thought that equating a vegan dinner party with things like a root canal and jury duty among other dreaded tasks was piss-your-pants-funny, but what it really did was show how out-of-touch the creators really were. And what fucking vegan do you know (if you know any!) has even heard of beetloaf? I’ve been plant-based for more than two years and I’ve never considered making one. I have a great “meatloaf” that’s plant-based and you’d never know it if I served it to you. Continue reading →

New Kid in Town

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Jim

Living in the football-mad region of New England, Monday morning quarterbacking is legion. Of course, those Monday morning discussions soon turn into Tuesday and Wednesday discussions extending throughout the day on Boston radio stations, all revolving around the QB position. That’s because in New England, football talk centers on one of the best in the history of the game.

To top it all off, starting last season, with all the hoopla about ball inflation and the National Football League’s “gotcha’” approach towards that quarterback—and this year’s continuation—as Tom Brady begins the 2016 season serving a four-game suspension, there’s no backing off discussions about the quarterback. The wrinkle this year is that in addition to Brady, we’re now talking Garoppolo, too.

Run, Jimmy, run.

Across the NFL, you won’t get much of an argument from the 31 other places outside of New England that the Patriots are not well-liked—and articles like this one, and this one (and a host of others) intimate that the team is hated by just about everyone else save those of us who love the red, white, and blue. So be it. Continue reading →

A Winning Attitude

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Jim

Some writers prefer grinding axes when it comes to Tom Brady. These writers all command considerably more per word than a freelancer like me. For some odd reason, they can also focus their features on elements that are, IMHO, totally irrelevant when it comes to TB12.

Writers like Chuck Klosterman don’t care to deal in honest representations of other people—especially NFL quarterbacks. Instead, they fill their pieces with throwaway lines, in discussing arguably, the greatest player to ever play the position. What is he talking about when he writes, “It’s [the quarterback position] the only position in sports that racists still worry about.”?

To be fair, Klosterman leads with the admission that he considers Brady as “the greatest quarterback in NFL history,” but then he immediately backpedals, makes a number of insinuations, and then generally tries to carry out the same kind of “hit” on Brady that much of the rest of NFL Nation fans has been carrying out most of the summer and can’t let go of—basically, that he’s a “cheater.”

WEEI regular Kirk Minihane and Tom E. Curran of CSNNE.com were speculating last week that Klosterman was paid $7,500 to $10,000 for the GQ feature that was more about him than it was about breaking new ground on Brady. There are other Boston media types that took issue with the Klosterman piece, also.

But I don’t really give two shits about what Klosterman got paid by GQ or even that he didn’t get his agreed upon time with Brady. That’s never been where my interest lies when considering the 16-year veteran of the New England Patriots, and why I decided to jump back into following the Patriots and their all-world QB.

As I’ve detailed, I’m late to the party on Brady, Belichick, and the Patriots. That doesn’t mean I’ve been living in a remote cave outside Kandahar, either—what it means is that I haven’t followed all the minutia that fans of any sport know intuitively and often take for granted. Now that I’m paying attention, I’m awestruck by TB12 and what he’s been able to accomplish, year-after-year, and this year, he seems to have turned back the clock. We’re talking about a 38-year-old quarterback playing like a 25-year-old, physically, but with all the acquired wisdom that comes from thousands of snaps back of center during the heat of battle, not to mention his cerebral qualities.

Sunday night’s game against Denver was a grind for Brady. With his receiver corps depleted by injuries, his patchwork quilt of an offensive line requiring him to unload the football quickly, and TPTB of the NFL conspiring against him and his mates, one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever strap them on nearly pulled off another late game miracle. I truly believe that if Gronkowski doesn’t leave the game with what appeared to be a serious knee injury, Brady would have been victorious. But, we’ll never know for sure.

Tom Brady goes downfield in the snow vs. Denver. (Justin Edmonds photo)

Continue reading →

Papal Edict

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Jim

I’m going to stay with the topical for this week’s Friday blog selection. Given that the big news this week is centered on the pope’s visit to the U.S., I’m throwing-in with that one for today.

There is the adage that religion and politics are deal-breakers for winning friends and influencing people, or something similar. Yet, both find their way into conversations, and they sure have hijacked our current news cycle. I think there’s a reason behind that, and I’ll spend some space delving into that aspect of “Pope Francis Goes to Washington.”

The president and the pope; on the same ideological page.

Did you know that Francis is only the fourth pope ever to visit our country? In fact, we were 189-years-old as a nation before Pope Paul VI dropped by in 1965. Since then, it was John Paul II in 1979, Pope Benedict XVI in 2008, and now, Francis. Actually, Pope John Paul II was a regular visitor, coming back for visits in 1984, 1987, 1993, 1995, and 1999. He always scheduled an audience with the sitting president when he came calling, too. The presidents visited were Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan (twice), and Bill Clinton (three times). Francis is the only pope to ever address the U.S. Congress, however. Continue reading →

In Tom We Trust

Posted on September 22, 2015 by Jim

All anyone needs to know about today’s blog post can be summed up by the following statement and quote: “I love Tommy and you’re right, he’s a WINNER!” That’s from my sister, aka Aunt Tomato, from an email exchange we had about our weekends, when I mentioned the New England Patriots and Tom Brady’s Sunday performance.

I had mentioned to her that I spent Sunday afternoon painting some trim work around the windows of our house. Since it is now football season and I seem to be morphing into a football fan, I decided to tune in the Patriots Radio Network on my portable radio.

Actually, there are only a few reasons why I’ve chosen to follow football again this fall. The Patriots, Bill Belichick, and Tom Brady. The latter one is probably the biggest one.

Throw, Tommy, throw! Brady completing pass vs. Buffalo Bills. (AP Photo/Bill Wippert)