THE FINEST KIND

By Peter Vuono

  One of my favorite movies is one filmed locally called "The Finest kind". I like it because the most dramatic scene was filmed at the Supreme House of Donuts on Crescent St. in my home town of Brockton. Other beautiful scenes were filmed by the sea in New Bedford and Fairhaven.

  In the movie's tear jerking and action packed climax, Tommy Lee Jones tells his son, "Some day if you ever have a son, the first time you look at him you get a feeling all at once that you'd die for him. A little thing you've never seen before and you'd stone cold die for him".

  I think that this thought is probably agreed upon by most of us who are parents but as I was driving along one day, I thought of the movie and then asked myself" We would die for our kids but what does it say about a man who would and DID die for his dog"?

  When we think the Pittsburgh Steelers we are full of fond memories and excitement about Franco Harris, Terry Bradshaw, Jon Kolb, Mike Webster, LC Greenwood, Jack Lambert and, of course, Mean Joe Green et al. All sports heroes  for certain but there was one who gave his life for his pet who stands far above so many others.

   Steve Courson was a Massachusetts native. He played for the Steelers in 4 Superbowls and won two Superbowl rings. Upon his trade to Tampa, The 300lb Courson who registered an official 605 bench press in a contest, contracted  a virus of the heart and was a candidate for a transplant!.

   He decided to get off steroids and write about the sad abuse of them in the NFL in his fine book, "False Glory". Amazingly, he nursed himself back to good health. He was  clean and was no longer in need of an artificial heart. He went to Tampa Bay camp, worked hard to get his weight up and won the "Ed Bloc" trophy from his teammates for the best  injured player comeback for the Bucs that year.

   In 2007 at his home in Farmington Pennsylvania, Steve decided to take on by himself the chore of felling a 44 foot tree on his property. After the cut a strong wind caused the tree to fall the wrong way toward his black labrador retriever. The former offensive lineman still had great speed and rushed to quickly and successfully push his dog out of harms way. In doing so, the tree fell on Steve killing him instantly. When EMT's arrived, his dog was standing guard over Steve's lifeless body.

  So when I hear Tommy Lee Jones prophetic words in the movie talking about dying for a loved one, somehow I always think of this football hero who became so much more than that.

  Josh billings once said, that "A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself. Steve Courson knew it and acted upon it. He was truly, "The Finestkind".

  

 SO WHAT IF IT'S A "WORK"!

By Peter Vuono

   I noticed this morning that a great many of my FB friends are livid with the thought that the Tyson/Paul fight was not legitimate; that it may have been staged. First, you the reader need to know two Carny terms used by wrestlers. The first one is "work". This means the match is predetermined and the wrestlers trust each other to not  hurt each other, take home their pay and perform again a day or two later.

  The second term is a "shoot". This is a term which means that someone got hot under the collar and the match is quite real. This happens rarely as wrestlers want to be safe so that they can"work" again.

  Did anyone actually say that the Tyson/Paul match was legitimate? I don't think so and I don't fault the fighters or promoters for staging a fight if that is what happened. YOU got excited to see the fight and were entertained. Secondly, both Paul and Tyson were unharmed as far as this author knows and took home a great deal of money to feed their families.

  Do you remember Evil Knievel's Snake river Canyon jump with the Sky Cycle? He went over the canyon half way, parachuted and had no intention of risking a complete jump. You and I were "worked".  Sports that actually are legitimate run the risk of seriously hurting the athletes and fans!

  Think of the concussions involved with  pro football players and CTE. How many fans are injured a soccer games by fans trampling others. Remember after a Boston Red Sox celebration where a young girl had a misplaced pepper ball shot in her eye causing her death? There's a lot to say about an event being "worked". We wrestling fans know well of the "predetermined" match. We can usually guess the outcome and go home both entertained and delighted. So my question is," Why can't you"? There are so many more things in life so much more important.

  One final note; with the enormous amount of "scammers" out there, don't forget that YOU can be worked and taken advantage of in just about every facet of your life. Something to keep in mind if the fight was indeed a "work"  Worse things could happen to you. I hope they don't

  

 A BOY AND HIS DOG

Title by Harlan Ellison

Story by Peter Vuono

   In the 70's and 80's my favorite books were by Ray Bradbury. He was such an incredible story teller that after each story, I'd have to put the book down and just ponder the impact that he had such a knack at conveying .There was another favorite of mine, however who made the reader really work to find out what he was trying to say. This was Harlan Ellison who successfully sued James Cameron for borrowing the premise of Ellison's story "Soldier" for the Terminator.

   I read Ellison's "A Boy and His Dog" in 69. It's a very harsh read with a great deal of sex, violence and social decadence but every time I think about it I realize that Ellison had a message which is even more relevant now then in 69.

   It's a post apocalyptic tale of a teenage boy- Vic and his beloved dog "Blood". They spend their days only trying to eat and survive. They violently encounter a female protagonist- Quilla- who in time has feelings for Vic. Quilla, however was part of a ruse, to lure Vic underground to help populate a dying race of men who could not produce children.

   Vic knew, that Blood would not survive without him and he, Vic, would not survive without Blood. He makes the only

altruistic decision he's ever made and leaves with Blood. Quilla screams at him,"Don't you know what love is?". Vic answers, "Sure I know. A boy loves his dog".

  This graphic and hard to read tale has immense irony attached to it. The dog has been domesticated for 35,000 years going all the way back to the Pleistocene period under the Cro-Magnon Man! However, after all this time and an apocalypse, it is the dog, not the humans, that maintains the noble quality of loyalty and love. Here, in this one instance, Vic does what the dog would have always done. He would become as loyal as "Blood" was.

  Our age, here in the 21st century, is without an apocalypse but is rife with the horribleness of Ellison's story with a society rampant with violence, immorality, profanity, war and selfishness and yet, it is the dog, an alleged lower functioning animal, that maintains purity.

  Ellison's tale was a warning that is just as relevant now as it was in 69. I'm not a super idealist. I know that we can't all at once turn back many pages. However, didn't Confucius say that a thousand mile journey starts with one step?

  There as so many things we can do to insure that the savage society that Harlan Ellison predicted doesn't happen.

Instead of Tik-toc- read a book,

Encourage rather than discourage,

Praise rather than vilify,

Never pass up an opportunity to be kind,

Give the homeless guy a dollar,

Rather than sleeping in on Sunday, go to a house of worship,

Open the store door for a stranger,

Occasionally pay for the guy behind you at the doughnut shop,

Help the poor when you're able,

and vote for candidates that will protect mother earth.

   Harlan Ellison was a self proclaimed atheist. It is ironic that the work and thoughts of an atheist are,  at times,  just as important and meaningful a message as  that of some religious scholars.

If we heed his warning and try to slowly turn back the pages one at a time, the apocalypse he foretold will remain a parable and we will truly be on a path to redemption and salvation.

 LETTERS FROM BEHIND BARS

By Peter Vuono

   A long time ago, I befriended a fellow who was a much admired, world class athlete. He had been an Olympian and a Pan American Champion. He then gravitated to professional athleticism and made a more than decent salary. I met him in January and February of 1985. It was at the old Boston Garden. during our 2nd visit that I handed to him a copy of an article I wrote about him that was written in an Australian Magazine. He thanked me, shook my hand and it would be the last I would ever see of him.

   Some unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances would land him in prison for a two to three year sentence which would be extra hard as he had two young children. A few months after his incarceration, I received from him a very warm, heartfelt and uplifting letter of thanks. I didn't think too much of it then but now, decades later, as I look at the letter, I realized that it spoke volumes!

  One of the biggest persecutors of Christians was Saint Paul who actually witnessed the stoning murder of Saint Stephen. When he converted over to Christianity, he too was incarcerated and wrote all of his memorable letters of the New Testament from prison. I realized that my friend's letter was so much more than a letter of thanks.

   There can't be a more vile place to be in than a prison. Yet my friend took the time to thank me and uplift my spirits which are too often down from one of the worst places on earth. He had done on a smaller scale what Paul was doing and in doing it proved the credo of Saint Augustine which was, "Every sinner can be a saint and every saint was once a sinner."

   Perhaps not as important but still notable is that my friend, unlike so many of us actually wrote to me while his spirit was broken, his family vacant and  his safety in danger. What does this say about some of us who don't write letters or cards of thanks or only say a half- hearted or casual "Thanks"?

  If my friend, a former prisoner can show this kind of virtue, much in the same way that Paul did, it isn't just a personal letter; it's a message, for me, for you and for all that read this.

  

   

 WALKING IN THE SHOES OF THE CARPENTER

A TRIBUTE BY PETER VUONO

   I was married 45 years ago. One of my closest friends-an usher in my wedding party-Joe DiFalco recently passed from lung cancer although he never smoked a cigarette in his life. Joe was one of 7 children and whose 4 brothers were absolute masters of building, repairing and auto mechanics.

  If the Difalco brothers were one's friend then one would never want for assistance in any possible job. I honestly think that if I asked the DiFalco brothers to build a down scaled model of a Boeing 747, they could do it.  I had a home gym in my garage and I'd like to say that Joe and his brothers helped me build it. It was just the opposite; I helped THEM build my gym!

 Because he was a natural born laborer, Joe took on many jobs which required hard work. He, however, would never complain about work or conditions. The thrust of his life was to uphold his vows as a husband and father and work to make life livable for his loved ones.

  In the 80's Joe worked in a meat packing house with sweat shop conditions and a tyrannical boss.  Another powerlifting friend of mine worked there too who told me of the conditions. This fellow hated the environment so much that he actually got into fisticuffs with the boss. Joe, however, continued the course of working hard without complaint. He'd never take home the angst that his job would cause. He'd simply and patiently wait for a better opportunity and move on.

 This is why it's so ironic to me that Joe was named for one of the most loyal and hard working husbands and dads of all time; Saint Joseph. Joseph was the son of Jacob and 27 generations from King David. He'd be the foster father of Jesus and when word got out that Herod wanted Jesus killed, Joseph was warned in the middle of the night. He got up without complaint, put his wife and son on a burro and WALKED  40 miles to Egypt. 

  When Herod was dead, Joseph, once again was told to return to Israel and once again he'd put his wife and son on the burro and walk the 40 miles back to Israel without out any inkling of consternation. It's here that my friend Joe was so much like Saint Joseph. A hard working family man dedicated to the vows he made in keeping his family safe, fed and happy.

  Even when Joe was on his sick bed, I apologized to him about some of the rapscallions who trained with us in the gym HE built as they made training, at times annoying. Even then, Joe, like his namesake showed no disappointment just as he did his entire life.

  Joe is now gone but his character and spirit will always remain with me. When life gets tough and I start to complain I'll think of my dear friend who like no one else truly walked in the shoes of the carpenter.

 WE ALL HAVE A TALENT

By Peter Vuono

   Recently, I saw a an FB posting of a friend that's a stand up comedian. He said that he felt "intimidated" in front of more seasoned comedians who went on with him on the same bill. I too, had a similar experience about 25 years ago.

   My wife treated me to Penn and Teller in Boston. They were beyond sensational and immediately after the show closed, they both donned their winter coats and greeted and thanked every patron upon leaving. They exhibited, great talent, professionalism, humility and class. I went away happy until I next performed myself.

  Four days later I did a magic birthday party for some nice kids in Plainville. It was a small group who were very receptive. However, as I drove off I thought of Penn and Teller. I felt so small in comparison and sometimes I still do to this day. However, after my friend made his comment about his stand-up routine I thought about it intensely.

  I'll never be a Penn or Teller but that's not what's important. I believe that everyone has a talent and should do everything they can to exhibit it! With some it's cooking,

or sewing,

or chess,

or auto mechanics,

or martial arts,

or accounting,

or plumbing,

or music,

or helping and rescuing animals,

or any other multitude of skills. What IS important is that you and I have a talent of some sort and as long as we have it we should use it to make life more livable for friends, family and strangers. We are co-pilots working for God. Mother Teresa once said to, "Do little things with great love" and when I get that inferiority feeling about my time watching Penn and Teller, I think of what she said; AND SHE WAS RIGHT!

 WORKING MAN 

Story by Peter Vuono

   Each morning when I go downstairs to my dungeon-like workout area, I play a variety of metal songs One favorite of mine has the following refrain;

"I get up at 7 yeah, I go to work at nine.

I got no time for livin, yes, I'm, working all the time.

It seems to me I could live my life a lot better than I think I am.

that's why they call me; they call me the working man".

   Yes, the song gets me charged up but it also reminds me of the hard working life of an old friend and teacher who recently passed on at age 82- Mike Russell. Mike had a calm and kind demeanor and was very slow to anger. In addition to this he was one of the most admirable teachers I had ever met for two reasons; the first was his incredible work ethic.

   Mike was a full time Social Studies teacher. However ,because he and his beloved wife Marlene had the  objective of getting ALL their children through college, Mike had the distinction of working at more jobs than anyone I had ever met at Brockton High School.

   Mike was junior class advisor, senior class advisor, coach, and summer school teacher. As if this weren't enough, he would leave his summer school job at noon and work as the chief charge' overseeing the East Side Pool, which, at the time, had a reputation for servicing some difficult youngsters whose peccadilloes would easily ward off the hardiest of teachers. On weekends, he took copious photographs of all the football players and selflessly gave the photos away free to the players. There was, however, as I have stated another facet to Mike's life which has forever stayed with me since I heard it in the mid eighties; and that was his profound philosophy of education.

   It was the mid 80's in the azure teacher's lounge early on a week day morning with little if no AC. Some of the boys were lamenting our being there and how nice it would be if we got a better rate during the year. Like a sage from the past, Mike calmly enunciated, "Look, no one ever told us that we'd  make money in teaching. We're here for something else". Indeed we were. We were there for our families and just as importantly; we were there for the kids!

  Now, decades later when I privately go out into the summer heat to a client's home for home teaching, I try not to think of the hardship of it. Rather, I  think back to the 80's to Mike's profound philosophy.

  None of us humans can even guess as to what is said to a deceased person by the Lord. I should think that in Mike's case there are two distinct possibilities;

  The first is "Well done, good and noble servant" and personally I like to think he may hear, 

"I get home at 5 O'clock and I take myself out a nice cold beer.

Always seem to be won'drin why  there's nothin going down here.

It's seems to me I could live my life

a lot batter than I think I am, 

that's why they call me; they call me the working man".

Be assured, he's living a rewarding life now.

SPECIAL NOTE: Title and lyrics were written by Neil Peart.