One of Gotham’s many theme base list serves is Sportstalk (inspired by Ben Geizhals before a long ago Giants Super Bowl).  The concept is for sports fans to discuss sports without clogging up Fredslist.  You need not be a Gotham member and just need to ask us to put you on the list and then email to sportstalk@gothamnetworking.com to join the conversation. Sports are one of my great interests, both participating (the Batmen softball team won its second consecutive Championshi...

I just said something exuberant to my wife Joanne and her response was “Sure, dream on, Fred”.  My response to her was “That’s a subject for a blog.”And here we go:  “Dream on” is the perfect subject for a blog, less than one week after the fourth annual Gotham Picnic softball game which was covered last Sunday by Sunday blogger and my first baseman Corey Bearak.So many unusual things happened in that game that one could call it a “dream game”. There was so much self congratu...

Are you superstitious? I know I am!Superstition is defined as a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge, in or of the ominous significance of a peculiar thing, occurrence, proceeding or the like – irrational fear of what is unknown or mysterious. Another definition is a widely held unjustified belief in supernatural causation leading to certain consequences of an action or event, or a practice based on such belief. There are so many things that I do and don’t do ba...

I live on Long Island and commute to work in Manhattan by car.  I drive to the East River on the Long Island City side where I park and take the subway 2 stops into the city. The distance is 19 miles and when I was young and training for the marathon, Ben Geizhals and I (see photo) would run the 19 miles into the city once a week.  It was quite a trip! The fastest I ever commuted door to door was 42 minutes and that was achieved in late Summer when school was out and folks we...

Do you know what I mean?  Did it ever happen to you?  Did something suddenly come out of nowhere unexpectedly and happen so fast? It happened to me last week.  I was driving along the Grand Central Parkway, in lane and observing the speed limit, when two cars came upon me weaving through the traffic as if in a careless contest or race.  You’ve seen them and have to marvel at their elan and daring. And then it happened, a third car in front of me changed lanes suddenly without...

I live on Long Island and drive to work in Manhattan. Actually, I drive 19 miles from my home to the Queens side of the East River and take the subway two stops to my office in Manhattan.I take various driving routes without using Waze and bide my time by making Bluetooth telephone calls and listening to books on CDs. Once school is out traffic lightens and I think of breaking my 42 minute door-to-door record.  A key factor in a record-breaking effort is a good subway connect...

Last week I finally got to play with my son David and my grandson Jackson, all together in a row, on the Gotham Batmen softball team (see photo). It's been a long long time coming and I can truly say that it was one of the greatest moments of my life!Can you imagine that Jackson hit a long homerun which I caught on video tape, David got the game ending hit and I was the winning pitcher allowing only two (unearned) runs, no walks with a number of strikeouts. It was a dream com...

The name Aaron is a most significant one in history.Aaron was the older brother of Moses and his partner in all of his accomplishments. In Hebrew the meaning of Aaron is lofty; exalted; high mountain. The second name (first until recently) in all of baseball history in the baseball encyclopedia is Hank Aaron, one of the very greatest players ever to play the game. In this context it is significant that my New York Yankees have three Aarons on their team.  They are led by mana...

When I was young my first job out of law school was as an investigator for the National Labor Relations Board and one of my first cases involved the Long Island Press against which an Unfair Labor Practice Charge had been filed. My job was to interview the Long Island Press Editor David Starr, present him with the allegations, record his responses in and have him execute an affidavit. When I was finished and presented my hand written affidavit to him Editor Starr refused to s...

Last Friday the Batmen lost our season opening game 8 to 6. What's worse is that I walked someone with the bases-loaded and two outs to cost us the game. I have carried that loss and that misstep with me all week and it haunts me, yet motivates me to do better in tonight's game. I try to console myself with the thought that I should be appreciative of the fact that a person of my age is in a position to and capable of pitching for the Batmen and the fact that it's far bette...