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Siena Saints men’s basketball

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference

Siena As a perk of having a subscription to Albany’s remaining newspaper, I can enter a number of contests pretty much automatically. So I play. A couple months back, I scored a pair of tickets to a movie theater.

Then in November, I received a pair of season tickets to Siena College men’s basketball games. Siena is in suburban Loudonville. That’s pronounced LOUD-in-ville, not LEW-den-ville, or London-ville.

Siena plays in Division I. It’s in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, a league that generally gets only one team to play at the end of the season NCAA March Madness. Siena’s gotten to that tournament six times over the years and has won a total of four games.

But it’s one of OUR teams, along with my alma mater, UAlbany. I missed the first home game. I decided I should go to the second game on Tuesday, November 12 because there wouldn’t be another home game until December 21.

Not Charles

I decided to invite the only person I know who definitely knows something about basketball. Chuck Miller is a fellow blogger, but more importantly, an announcer for the Albany Patroons, defending champions that play in the oddly-named The Basketball League.

We met at the pizza place nearby. The owner ended up offering a free slice to a guy who asked almost everyone in the joint for money. The fellow claimed to be a homeless veteran; perhaps, perhaps not.

The last time I was in the Times Union Center was when I saw a football game of the now-defunct Albany Firebirds a couple of years back. Our seats at the basketball game, if it were a football stadium, would be in the end zone. In other words, we were almost behind one of the baskets. Yet we could still see pretty well.

The two teams, Siena and St. Bonaventure University, were playing for the Brother Ed Coughlin Franciscan Cup. Coughlin was Siena’s president before he died in July 2019. He had earned his bachelor’s degree at St. Bonaventure.

Siena started the game off really cold, even missing free throws. The Bonnies made a few threes and had a six-point lead after four minutes. But the Saints turned things around, as their opponents got sloppy. Siena, up three at the half, built an insurmountable lead in the latter stages, and won 78-65.

There was a young woman in front of us, a Siena alum, who knew far more about the team and their skill sets than we did.

What was that?

The school held a 50/50 raffle to help one of their baseball or softball teams. Chuck spent $10 on his tickets and wanted to know if I wanted to go in on it with him. I decided to buy my own $5 worth. With 15 minutes left, the scoreboard flashed the winning number. The announcement was that I should go to the VCfghfl jkgughjn. WHAT?

I wandered around the perimeter of the arena until I found a young woman and her daughter, who was under five. She verified my ticket and handed me $263. Ah, Christmas is saved!

I was reminded that, generally, live sport is more interesting than watching on television. The game, I later learned, was broadcast on ESPN+, one of those several tiers of the sports network.

Would you like to go?

These are the remaining home games on the schedule.

December
21 (SAT) 6 PM VS BUCKNELL
23 (MON) 6 PM VS CANISIUS
29 (SUN) 2 PM VS HOLY CROSS

January
3 (FRI) 7 PM VS MONMOUTH
9 (THU) 7 PM VS SAINT PETER’S
24 (FRI) 7 PM VS MARIST
26 (SUN) 2 PM VS QUINNIPIAC

February
7 (FRI) 7 PM VS FAIRFIELD
14 (FRI) 7 PM VS RIDER
16 (SUN) 2 PM VS MANHATTAN/DOUBLEHEADER WITH SIENA WOMEN (noon)
19 (WED) 7 PM VS IONA

March
4 (WED) 7 PM VS NIAGARA

It’s highly unlikely that I’ll go to all of them. Thursday is choir night, e.g. And I don’t really want to go alone. So if you’re local and want one or two tickets, IM me on Facebook.

Tobacco advertising and the Smokeout

Vaping is not safe for those who do not currently use tobacco products

more doctors smoke camels I’ve regularly mentioned the Great American Smokeout because I’m old enough to remember when tobacco consumption was lauded.

Recently, I came across a 1933 tobacco ad. It noted that “21 of 23 Giants” …Smoke Camels. The Giants referred to the New York baseball team. Check out the Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising, from which I purloined the above ad.

“The Great American Smokeout is an annual social engineering event on the third Thursday of November by the American Cancer Society… The event challenges people to stop smoking cigarettes for 24 hours, hoping their decision not to smoke will last forever. The first Great American Smokeout was held in San Francisco’s Union Square on November 16, 1977.”

How does one get people to stop smoking? Can you scare kids into not smoking? “That’s the premise behind a variety of programs that have placed graphic warnings on billboards, in magazine advertisements, and on packs themselves.

“Unfortunately, there is evidence such campaigns can be counterproductive. And new research examining the effects of a specific approach on a particularly vulnerable population suggests it might do more harm than good.”

Spock

I find the stories collected by the Centers for Disease Control compelling. In particular, I was moved by the ad about Leonard Nimoy starting to smoke cigarettes as a teenager “because he thought they were ‘cool.’ The American actor best known for his iconic role as Spock on the popular television and film series, Star Trek, smoked for 37 years” before dying of complications of COPD. But, of course, I’m not the audience.

The introduction of e-cigarettes, a/k/a vaping, was presumably designed to get adult smokers to quit the habit. Even the CDC suggests “e-cigarettes have the potential to benefit adult smokers who are not pregnant if used as a complete substitute for regular cigarettes and other smoked tobacco products.”

One in five high school students in the U.S. reported using an e-cigarette in 2018. “Nicotine addiction can affect brain development in young adults.” And of course, there are several stories “about the recent lung diseases that have been reported. E-cigarettes are not safe for youth, young adults, pregnant women, or adults who do not currently use tobacco products.”

Now, the Federal Trade Commission is studying E-cigarette manufacturers’ sales, advertising, and promotional methods. The FTC “has issued orders to six e-cigarette manufacturers seeking information to study the companies’ sales, advertising, and promotional methods” for the calendar years 2015 through 2018.”

My layman’s observation is that tobacco advertising of vaping delivery systems was targeted teenagers as surely as the infamous Joe Camel ads did to young smokers a couple decades earlier. I’ll follow this story with great interest.

BTW, the notion that cream of tartar and orange juice will help you quit smoking is Pants on Fire false.

Movie review: Jojo Rabbit (2019)

emotional rollercoaster

Jojo Rabbit is your basic boy coming of age story. Well, if you’re a German 10-year-old who has bought into the Nazi propaganda machine and your best friend appears to be Adolf Hitler.

The film, marketed as an anti-hate satire, is by New Zealander Taika Waititi. He previously directed Thor: Ragnarok. Waititi wrote and directed Jojo Rabbit, as well as playing a rather insecure Adolf. The movie reminded me a bit stylistically of a Wes Anderson film.

Roman Griffin Davis plays Jojo, who gained his unfortunate last name moniker from an incident at a Nazi youth camp. It was run by Captain Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell), assisted by Frau Rahm (Rebel Wilson) and others. This is the young man’s first movie, and he’s very good.

Jojo’s mom Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) is raising her son on her own, as her husband is “away.” Rosie is a delightful character, particularly in a fireplace scene. While mom was away, Jojo discovers a young woman, Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) hiding in the attic. Could she possibly be a Jew? And if she is, how should Jojo deal with her?

The emotional rollercoaster of this film should not work. Groan-worthy puns and quips precede more stark content. I suspect some folks will hate it. It certainly won’t connect with everyone.

But Jojo Rabbit worked for my wife, daughter and me when we saw it at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany on Veterans Day. It was thought-provoking, and occasionally LOL funny. Yet it was also ultimately a takedown of bigotry and prejudice.

Sidebars

Taika Waititi, who is Jewish, appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on October 17. Sometimes, he noted, he’d be directing, forgetting that he was in the Adolf garb. Then he’d catch a glimpse of himself. “I’m not directing, I’m suggesting,” he’d say to the cast.

I previously saw Thomasin McKenzie in the truly great 2018 movie Leave No Trace, which was Oscar-worthy. She, like the director, is a Kiwi, but there’s no sense of her accent in this film.

Isabella Rossellini appeared on the genealogy program Finding Your Roots in 2019. Her DNA test showed that Scarlett Johansson is related to her, certainly on her mother Ingrid Bergman’s side.

T for Texas, T for Tennessee

Lorraine Motel

Texas.Tennessee T for Texas, T for Tennessee. This is a reference to a Jimmie Rogers song that was covered by several artists, including Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. The version I first heard, segueing into another song, was by the Everly Brothers.

The states are separated by Arkansas, where I have never been, though my wife’s best friend moved there several years ago.

Tennessee Waltz

I’ve been to Tennessee twice. the first time was in 1970. A bunch of us high school kids raised money to visit Fayette County, which was described to us as the poorest county in the country. It was certainly very rural.

On that trip, we traveled rather quickly to Memphis, where we saw the Lorraine Motel. That was the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. It would subsequently be turned into a civil rights museum.

Memphis Blues – Duke Ellington

The other was c 2002 when I attended the Association of Small Business Development Centers conference in the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, which was part mall, part amusement park.

Crazy Town – Jason Aldean

TN Tennessee, a state in the southeast US, historically abbreviated Tenn. Capital and largest city: Nashville.

Tennessee Waltz – Connie Francis

The Six Flags of Texas

If you’re not from the United States, you may or may not realize that Texas has an oversized presence in the American narrative. It has a unique history. It was controlled by Spain for three centuries, interrupted by a five-year rule by France. From 1821 to 1836, it was under Mexican control; remember the Alamo.

Then in 1836, it was a republic until 1845, when it became a US state. It’s been that ever since. Well, except for that period between 1861 and 1865.

Everything is bigger in Texas. It was the largest state by area until Alaska supplanted it in 1959. Now Texas is the second-largest state in terms of population. It has the biggest state fair.

TX Texas, a state in the south-central US, abbreviated Tex. Largest city: Houston, the fourth largest in the US, while San Antonio is seventh. “Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are the fourth and fifth largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country, respectively.” Capital: Austin, the second-most populous state capital in the US, after Phoenix, AZ.

I went to a Texas state conference of Small Business Development Centers in 1996. It was held in Galveston, on the Gulf Coast. I woke up at 6 a.m. Eastern time, which was 5 in the Central Time Zone. I walked out on a jetty, and I stood there as the tide came in; it was glorious. Later, I saw a Houston Astros game in the Astrodome, which was not a great place to see baseball.

There are tons of songs about Texas. My favorite is That’s Right, You’re Not from Texas by Lyle Lovett.

ABC Wednesday

Limit political stress for better health

essential strategy Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Mike Roizen, MDs, posted an email ad, Limit Political Stress for Better Health, I’m a not a devotee of Oz and don’t know Roizen, but it sounds about right, especially with US Thanksgiving coming up.

“A University of Nebraska survey found that nearly 40% of people say politics are stressing them out; 20% are losing sleep or are fatigued or suffering depression because of politics; and 20% report that political discussions have damaged friendships. This worries health professionals.”

ONLY 20% report damaged friendships?

They lay out a plethora of ailments including depression, anxiety, headaches and chronic pain syndromes. “It can exacerbate asthma and COPD; damage the circulatory system and heart; disrupt your hormone balance and immune system; increase your risk of dementia and cancer; cause digestive upset; and even alter fertility.”

Altered fertility? Maybe this explains the diminishing birth rate, not just in the United States.

“That’s why it’s important to find a way to de-escalate anxiety, anger, and conflict about political events (while remaining committed to every American’s involvement in the political process — including that uncle you disagree with).”

Even HIM? OK.

Avoiding political stress

“Here are some tips to avoid the stress of politics:
• Limit time spent watching and reading news coverage.
I fail.

• Turn off your phone’s news alerts.
I think this is a GREAT idea, actually.

• Ask friends to drop the subject, and talk about movies, books, or food instead.
I see the first two as problematic. For instance, I can see someone recommending “Why Trump Deserves Trust, Respect and Admiration,” a real book title with blank pages. Someone responses with the newest book by conservative author Dinesh D’Souza.

Do you really want to discuss a Michael Moore film with half of your relatives?
And heck, food’s dangerous too. It can engender debates about foie gras, meat, or food produced from farther than 100 miles away, to name just a few topics.

• Use physical activity (60 minutes daily) and meditation to calm your stress response and mind.
Yes, walk away from these discussions and discuss the weather. “Climate change is killing us!” “There’s no such thing!”
Or, ah, er…

With Thanksgiving at hand, what are now SAFE conversation starters?