SPORTS

“I Don’t Care About Sports, But...”

By Steve Lawrence

In this piece of my life’s mosaic—the sports guy at the Ithaca Times—September is always a sentimental month for me. I think back to a day in September of 1993, when I settled into my seat in the press box at Schoellkopf Field to watch a Cornell football game. I greeted the fellow next to me —I sat next to Kenny Van Sickle whenever I could—and I said, “Mr. Van Sickle, this game marks the one-year anniversary of me taking over the sports column.” He replied, “You can call me Kenny, and you’re catching up to me.” at prompted one of the many laughs we would share over the next several years, until Kenny’s passing eight years later. e reason that was so funny was that Kenny had begun his career at the Ithaca Journal 61 years earlier when, as a sophomore in high school in 1932, he became the high school sports stringer. A er he graduated from high school, e Journal hired him as a full-time reporter in the spring of 1935. In 1946, a er a two-year tour of duty with the Navy, he was named e Journal’s sports editor. In other words, my one-year tenure was not very exciting. 29 years later, I think Kenny would smile and say, “30 years now? You’re still catching up.”

Kenny is de nitely on the list of people I will go looking for when I cross over some day. I will also seek out a few other souls that were very helpful to me in my evolution as a sports writer/story teller/ bullshitter. I’ll look for Bob Cullen, the founder of Lightweight Football, who was one of the nicest men I have ever known. I will look for Jim Butter eld, the Ithaca College icon that treated me like a ve-star recruit when we met, even though he knew I would never play a single down for him. I will search out George Dentes, the Tompkins County District Attorney, whose politics di ered vastly from my own, but who never failed to recognize my e orts to shine a positive light on young athletes.

I will look for Eddie Moylan, the former world-class tennis player who coached at Cornell, dismantled ne players half his age, wore crisp, white shorts year ‘round, never failed to comb in his Brylcreem hair gel, and always looked like a movie star.

I will look for my most faithful reader of all, John Murphy, who died last January 3, months before joining the ranks of the Centenarians. And of course, I will seek out the High Priest of storytelling and connecting with people, my dear friend Richie Moran, who le us in April of this year.

Until my meet-up with all those dearly departed, I look forward to many more sports-related adventures. It has been a great joy to see young people—and not so young people—use sports as a platform to reinvent themselves, to dig deeper, reach higher, and do things they never thought they could do. I have loved watching young people climb the ladder from Little League or Pee Wee or Squirt players to the pinnacle of their sport, as players, coaches, or in some other capacity. It has been an honor to watch parents give up their evenings and weekends to support their kids in their travel team endeavors, and to have a front-row seat to watching my own daughter use sports to learn teamwork, and discipline, and how to come back from a loss. e time management skills she learned from being a college athlete have served her very well in her career.

I have my doubts I will be writing this column 30 years from now, but it is still a real pleasure to have some situation come across my radar and have the wheels start turning. How can I best tell this story? How can I write it in a way that will pull people in—even those with a very marginal interest in sports? eirs are the comments I most enjoy: “I don’t care about sports, but I never miss your column.” irty years...who woulda thought?

A photo back from the day when Steve Lawrence might have used Brylcreem too. (Photo: File)

The Talk at

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Ithaca’s Greatest Rock Concerts

Beg pardon, Bryan, but you are surely mad! e Cars’ show at Barton Hall in 1979 was perfectly glorious…if you liked e Cars. e greatest show in the modern history of Ithaca? at was surely the appearance of e Red and e Black at the Rongovian Embassy on December 21, 1989. Featuring Buck Dharma, Jon Rogers, and Ron Riddle of Burns Sisters fame playing hooky from their gig with Blue Öyster Cult. Buck explained to me why they were now presenting as a Powerpop trio: “We only have to cut the take three ways!” And speaking of the Rongo, please note Egypt, Iowa, and their appearances there. Featuring no lesser talents than Horse Flies partners Je Claus and Judy Hyman, along with Red Letter bandmates Rich DePaolo and Bill King on bass guitar and percussion. As my friend, the Rongovian Ambassador to the United States Eric Ott noted, “I’ve been wanting to see these guys together for a long time.” Yes, that too was a very special occasion.

“barmayden”

As far as local acts, Glass Head/ Larry at e Derby from the late 70s was the epitome of serious great bar band rock and roll. And Tokyo from the Arcade during the same era. ere used to be a band called Shelob from that era that I absolutely loved. As far as national acts, Springsteen at Barton around 1979, the many appearances of Duke Robillard at e Haunt, and a triple bill at Bailey Hall in the 80s featuring Velvet Crush, Mazzy Star, and e Jesus and Mary Chain. And let me mention the great Madder Rose whose albums and live performances I loved.

“Crazyfeline” Basic economics: ere is no such thing as a free lunch. Fare free rides are not free. 38% comes from NY State but ultimately from taxpayers. Only 30% comes from fare revenue. Tompkins county residents county taxes subsidize TCAT. Fare free travel bene ts mainly City residents, not rural ones. So, “fare free” is an illusion. e costs of TCAT must be paid. Just another transfer of cost from all taxpayers to those who ride TCAT. And, all Covid risk is not gone. Riding with others in a con ned space can be dangerous to health. Just because you might not pay at the fare box does not mean it is not costing you whether you ride TCAT or not. “Cicero”

Inflation Reduction Act Will Have Negligible Impact

Did anybody ask Senator Gillibrand why it’s called the “In ation Reduction Act” when the Congressional Budget O ce predicts it will have “a negligible e ect on in ation”? Or the Penn Warton Budget Model group who predict “the impact on in ation is statistically indistinguishable from zero”? Or that, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, the estimated de cit reduction will be a mere 4% over the next decade? Sadly this bill provides little relief to workers and families as year-over-year in ation approaches 10%. But the name alone has convinced approximately a third of Americans that it will indeed reduce in ation. e deceptive double-speak is bothering on its own but that it is openly accepted and weakly contested is disturbing. Jason Evans, Ithaca

Indiana Trend Might Be OK

In response to Charley Githler’s column, “It Don’t Rain In Indianapolis”: was born in Indiana in the 40s, lived in Indianapolis for most of my life before recently moving to Ithaca. We got very little snow in central Indiana. If that could somehow be a new trend for Ithaca, it’d be alright with me. Otherwise, I’m enjoying the dark skies and lack of nightly gun re and shootings, thank you very much. John Je erson, Ithaca