Thanksgiving Holiday Celebration!
Part 1
OK my tour of the Lehigh Valley for the football season comes to an end with a great Thanksgiving at Steve and Wendy’s house (or maybe it is Wendy and Steve’s house?) She is in charge after all.
Wendy is an incredible cook and she set up a fantastic spread. Turkey, stuffing, filling, corn, green beans, mashed potatoes gravy etc. (Also a tofu “turkey” thing for our on again-off again vegan – Brandon……I’m sure the first Thanksgiving did not include any “fufu” stuff like tofu). What can I say he does have an awesome beard.
Where she found the time to get the meal done – who knows? – she did it with little or no help! I know I was at K Kids game – then drinking beer.
Then she also found time to bake four or five different pies and some calorie loaded creation with chocolate cake rolled up around a peanut butter filling. Uh yeah…all were excellent.
Yup spectacular Thanksgiving meal.
Probably leaning more towards 220 than 215 right now. Yikes Batman some work needs to be done to get back to fighting weight.
Great crowd – thirteen or fourteen of us including the hosts and their three kids – Brandon, Justine and Galen….Divyah (which I am spelling incorrectly I am sure.) My Dad and Judy.
My Boss –Shawn – our son Corey and wife over from NYC.
The mysterious Captain Saturn from Siegfried Avenue in Konkrete Kid land was on hand. He brought (I guess bought can be applied as well) a pie that his sometime roommate Burt baked for him while Tom and I drank beer at the Hungarian Hall on Wednesday. (More on the HH Konkrete Kid reunion later) He also donated a case of beer (Proper flavor as well – Coors Light) to the already growing pile of cases we had compiled.
Even more family and friends arrived for desert. Yeah pretty outstanding!
Many stories retold and perhaps embellished a bit. Seems to me there is a reason they are called “Tall Tales” because they just keep growing. Many lies were told – or perhaps our memories all start to fade as we age (and drink)
We could have built an outstanding beeramyd had I remembered to think of if. We would have added some Genesee Cream Ale cans…..that was from Brandon. Haven’t had that for more than twenty years….still pretty good stuff!
Alright – let’s take a look at how this whole operation unfolds for a Thanksgiving Holiday.
Part 1 Above really is the last section in regards to the timeline!
This is how the whole hectic Thanksgiving week started:
Really began with me cleaning out my 7×12 apartment (closet) room at Moravian on Tuesday or Wednesday – can’t remember which day due to this whirlwind week. ****It really is that small (7×12) – ask my roomdawgs.**** Had done my laundry the night before – not a real serious issue! – I am fastidious and clean…..hah!
Checked into the Holiday Inn for a few days to stay out of Wendy’s hair as she got ready for the Holiday. – I usually sleep on her couch – Bought and drank a few (dozen) beers…..went to pick up the boss (Shawn) – she flew into the ABE airport in the Lehigh Valley. (Actually, I think it is the Lehigh Valley INTERNATIONAL Airport now!)
We drove and hour or so to Dover, New Jersey to pick up my son Corey and his wife Taylor who had taken an hour train ride there (I know it makes no sense to drive an hour when they can get closer….but what is four hours between family – go figure??). Then leaving Dover launched ourselves into all of the traffic leaving NYC. **Actually reminds me of Planes, Trains and Automobiles a little.** Guess what – on the night before Thanksgiving everyone and their brother (plus their second cousins and 42,518 other relatives on their wife’s side are trying to leave the city as well.) So like schooling fish we jumped into the insane route 80 traffic.
Obviously I was quite frazzled after this crazy driving….but I knew I had a chance because the Hungarian Hall in Northampton was awaiting. The annual night before the Turkey Day game was on tap and fun was to be had. So I made it thru!
This night before Thanksgiving is a ritual gathering at the esteemed Hungarian Hall and is a major league blast. Alumni from all years Northampton gather and tell stories, lies, embellishments, wishes and promises etc. It is a lot of fun! Captain Saturn (see above in part one) is one of the key members of the security force to make sure that everything stays under control. We really do have a lot of fun…..many things are exchanged and forgotten as the alcohol haze sets in. I think the Konkrete Kids may have one a few more games that night than they did in real life.
****Aside here – Leo (Captain Saturn) and I much later had a lively discussion on who was the greatest athlete ever to come out of the Lehigh Valley. Several were discussed, but we concluded that Chuck Bednarik was the best. Took some discussion on Larry Miller and Curt Simmons as well. Love my asides!****
We survive the party and Leo (Tom or Captain Saturn – his dual nicknames so you choose one.) – and I repair to his estate on Siegfried avenue in Northampton Pa. You have to know that sometimes it is hard sleeping on a couch in his house because he doesn’t like to turn the heat on. (This is absolutely the truth)!
But alas, after surviving near frostbite in the past….I came prepared. Hooded sweatshirt (now called a hoodie if you will), sweat pants and two pair of socks. He supplied the quilt and pillow. I was fine.
You might ask – well how does he survive with no heat?? OK – he sleeps on the floor of his TV room on a mattress. In sweats he lays down on an electric blanket and pulls a quilt over the top of himself. I guess he doesn’t need the heat on….but his visitors do.
Seriously, at times you can literally see your breath when you sit in there.
OK do survive Wednesday nite to awake to PART THREE! OR TWO OF THIS YEAR’S TURKEY DAY SAGA….WHO KNOWS WHAT PART IT IS ANYMORE!
PART TWO, THREE OR WHATEVER
I awake to a beautiful frosty but sunny Thanksgiving Thursday morning. A very pretty day for the 95th (Yeah you see it right 95th) annual Northampton Konkrete Kid vs. Catasaqua Rough Rider football game.
Around 8:30 AM I walk outside to throw some of last night’s beer cans into the trash and check the temperature. I decide that my usual black shorts and high white socks are certainly going to be warm enough. But do decide for a layered look of hooded sweat shirts under my Konkrete Kid sweat shirt….plus a nice stocking hat and gloves if needed.
Above…..The Denardo “Compound” from the alley.
By the way this edition is getting way to long. – Does that count as an aside?
I walk the half mile from Captain Saturn’s house to Al Erdosy (Lou Wolf field) Stadium for the 10:00 AM kickoff. As I stroll along Laubach Avenue and look at the town I still feel all my old friends and who we have become…John Krupa, Mike Schnieder, Baines Bilheimer, Wally Seremula, Johnny Derkits – I see their houses remember our tight group. Remember how we learned about our lives…important things like playing sports, girls, music, girls, drinking, sneaking a smoke and girls.
I see the NAA (Northampton Athletic Association) and the athletic fields where at ten years old we learned how to play football, basketball etc. (I learned to play baseball in Lehigh township thanks to other great friends…Rick Kulp, Stan Schaffer, Greg Vogel and Eric Butler just to name a few – and their dads!)
Along the same street is the pool where we had some hot life guards. We used to do cannonballs to get Jill Filipovitz wet so she would throw us out of the pool. Then she started dating “Gatchy” Derkits and we couldn’t do that anymore. Dave Novogratz and his double gainers etc.
Enough about being poignant – those are just a few of the guys – love them all and always will. That is what a Konkrete Kid is. We are Black and Orange! Yup – just a bunch of cinderblocks….pumpkin heads (Orange helmets in the old days!)
Run across many old friends as I enter one of the most attractive High School stadiums I have ever seen. Timmy Masluck, Freddy Stubitz – see Mike Schnieder on the field. Hang with my brother Steve’s (better known as “Insane Clemons” – why am I the “Swamprat” – his nickname is better) best HS friend Dave Novogratz. (As this post goes on you can accuse me of using run-on sentences and poor syntax – because it is true.)
We watch the game and catch up – where are his kids? How is the Insane one doing…how is Wendy doing with retirement, does Galen like being a state cop? Just a few things old friends settling in as the game gets going on the field.
(Below) Konkrete Kids enter the field
We collect a few more friends in Mark Schlaffer and Johnny Eckert – their friends and kids are there as well. “Skrep” Filipovitz (God we have the best nicknames here in Northampton) – “Skrep” has seen 70 straight Northampton vs. Catasauqua Thanksgiving games.
Johnny Oplinger (His nickname Johnny O) jumps me as he is leaving in the fourth quarter. He is with his son Jonathon and has to leave to deep fry his turkey….Jonathon is in charge of the peas! One of the greatest people you can meet – probably one of the best offensive linemen ever to wear the black and orange.
That’s what this game does – it brings us back together. It catches us up on things. We hear that “ChainDog” is having his usual party down in park right below the stadium…there are two others going on at the same time (yup they started at 9:00 AM). Stevie Gabryluk was serving beer and eggs to thirty-forty people before 8:00 AM.
You may think these are just small gatherings – dream on – talking about kegs and cases. Grills. Oh yeah the police station is right across the alley! What a life!
(Images of Game Day above)
You know the best thing is this…..just as many Catty people with the Northampton people. Never been an issue. We live in neighboring towns. But we just play the game – it isn’t life or death.
But we have some problems this year with the game. Very unfortunate and somehow we have to get this under control.
PART THREE FOUR OR WHATEVER NUMBER WE ARE ON NOW.
I am a football coach and have been for too many years. I love to watch teams warm up – I just do. I like to get there early…..So, I tend to notice things.
A little more trash talking between teams before the game (but not the fans though – probably because we have all known each other so long). A little more looking at each other when they should be going through your paces during warmups.
As the teams exit the locker room to start the game Northampton comes out of the locker room first and runs onto the field…..this is confusing to me because they are the home team. Usually the visitors enter the field of play first.
Then Catty comes out and one of their players is carrying a very big sledge hammer. He runs to the middle of the field and slams it down on the Northampton logo. Not sure it could cut into the turf…but maybe right?
This causes the desired reaction by the KKids – they are not happy…..fortunately cooler heads prevail and nothing happens. Other than some comments back and forth.
Naturally this is not a good thing….but football on TV….well just watch it. Now even the younger guys have to make statements. Look at the eye black they put on – covering their faces….watch the gyrations they make if they stop a first down – or gain one – incomplete pass etc.. This is all TV.
Always thought the refs were supposed to stop taunting….basically this hammer thing is taunting on the HS level…guess not.
By allowing TD celebrations in the NFL – things will obviously get out of hand there. (After all it is supposed to be professional football. – act like a pro.) We have already seen some bizarre things after TD’s in the NFL. All of this effects games at lower levels – mostly in a negative light.
Nothing good is going to come of this action. I know the Northampton coach – he is excellent as a teacher and a great person – Mark Scisly – and I am sure Mark is caught off guard by this act.
Although I do not know the Catty coach Phil Dorn…. he has a very good reputation on and off the field. I am sure he is surprised as well.
Throughout the game there is a “chippy” feel. It is a close game, but it really isn’t if you watch it without a biased eye. Northampton is a better team and they should win. They are ahead 32-19 when I leave with the ball game they have the ball with only 8 minutes to do.
I should have stayed.
Turns out that there is a big brawl during the last 2 minutes or so.
I have already heard from several friends who wonder if they will just do away with this fantastic tradition on Thanksgiving day. There have been fights in several of the last Turkey Day games. Just plain stupid.
But to end the game – I truly hope not. It is such a great way to start the Holiday season – 95 times! (“Skrepy” Filipovitz has seen 70!).
I know it was a million years ago…..but when my age group played it was always a fun way to end the season. Most of the Northampton and Catasauqua players were friends and it was a competitive but well-played game year in and year out.
Over the years like everyone else I competed in several sports against Rough Riders – guys like Eric Gerenscer, Bobby Smith, Al Burns (last time I was him he was a police officer), Mike Reicher, Ron Hassler, Joe Poluka and Jeff Robbins to name just a few. Went to college with John Reichel and John Case – chased After Catty girls in HS.
We were all friends – still are I would imagine.
Never would have considered fighting those guys because we were friends on and off the field. We all wanted to win – but let’s face it HS football is serious…..but, not big enough to fight over.
For me playing on Turkey Day at 10:00 AM was always something to look forward to. Now as an old man it is fun to watch the game and see old friends. I don’t want to see this game go away. I am sure this is one of the longest standing traditions in the country. Since there have been 95 games.
Here’s to hoping you all have a great holiday season!
