Despite the loud protests from my aching knees (damn you, Pickleball addiction!), I’ll be biking 24 miles in the Ride Cincinnati event in mid-September.
Ride Cincinnati is a grassroots bike tour that raises money for life-saving cancer research and care. Since 2007, Ride Cincinnati has raised over $6.6 million for vital cancer research at the University of Cincinnati’s Barrett Cancer Center.
I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d make a donation to support my efforts.
As you can see, at present, I’m woefully short of my fundraising goal. (Let’s hope I ride better than I raise money…)
Your hard-earned cash will be going to a great cause.
The Ride Cincinnati organizers have encouraged riders to share their “why” – their motivation for participating in the event. I think I covered most of my “why” in yesterday’s post about my dear friend LJ, who currently is battling brain cancer.
LJ is getting great care. Thanks to my neighbors Whit and Barb, he and his wife Patty were even able to consult with Dr. Bill Barrett, the medical director of the Barrett Cancer Center, about their treatment plan, and he said they were doing all the right things.
But not everyone has those connections. And overall, our fair city could use some help in achieving a National Cancer Institute designation, which would unlock millions more in research funding.
Currently, the Greater Cincinnati area lacks a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer center. This prestigious designation signifies a center of excellence, offering patients throughout the tri-state access to the latest research and treatment options. Without one, many residents are forced to travel far from home for critical care. Ride Cincinnati is on a mission to change that.
My “why” also includes my mother-in-law Gloria, who passed from cancer last year… and my own mother, who died of leukemia 56 years ago. We’ve made great progress in the past half-century, but more work lies ahead.
Your donation is tax-deductible. But more importantly, if you donate to support me in Ride Cincinnati, we all win something much more precious than money. We win more days, weeks, months…. even years… with the ones we love who are battling cancer.
Thanks for reading. Thanks for your support. I’m going to make you proud in the ride.
Here’s a photo from my friend John’s 60th birthday celebration back in March:
The folks in the photo (L to R: Art, Sheila, Patty, BD Boy John, Suzanne, Phil, and yours truly) all went to Xavier waaay back in the 80s. (Hence the “X” poses.) It’s where we met – and in the case of Patty & John and Suzanne & Phil, it’s where they fell in love. (Art and Sheila both went to X at the same time, but didn’t connect until after we graduated.)
Hard to believe we’ve been friends for more than 40 years now. And in those 40 years, I think I’ve called John by his real name only a handful of times. An upperclassman dubbed him “Loew Junior” because he looked like another Muskie named Loew (or Lowe… not sure… it’s been a minute) and that quickly morphed into “LJ” and that nickname stuck, as college nicknames tend to do. Heck, at this point, when someone calls him “John” it throws me for a loop.
Here’s a photo from a very different celebration for LJ yesterday:
He just finished 30 rounds of radiation for brain cancer. Patty invited his friends — including his XU buddies who served as his “Uber drivers” to get him to several of the appointments (Art, Phil, Tom, Brian and me) — to be there when he rang the bell to mark the completion of treatment.
Here’s what we know:
LJ had a tumor in his left frontal lobe. He was diagnosed in May when it started impacting his speech. Doctors removed the tumor.
The form of cancer he has is aggressive.
They’ll do another MRI in a month, and map out next steps based on results.
Cancer sucks!
Here’s what we don’t know:
What the future holds.
Here’s what else we know:
LJ is in great shape.
He has a positive attitude.
He has a family that loves him… and grandkids who adore him.
His faith is strong.
His support network is deep and wide — relatives, neighborhood friends, church friends, even a bunch of knuckleheads from college.
[Phil, LJ, Brian, Dubbatrubba, and Art – Uber driver Tom wasn’t able to attend, but his wife Jodi was there.]
LJ’s world was turned upside-down between his birthday party in March and his diagnosis in May. The blink of an eye for someone who is 60. The best of times; the worst of times.
If anyone can beat the odds — and people DO beat the odds — it’s LJ.
We hope. We pray. We believe in miracles. And we cherish the time we get to spend with him.
We don’t know what the future holds. That’s not just true for LJ. It’s true for all of us.
I love live music, but I’m not really a stadium tour kinda guy. I’ve really only been to two stadium concerts in my life – the first was in 1986 (I think) at Cleveland’s old Municipal Stadium to see The Who on the first of their gazillion “farewell” tours. The second was two nights ago – Foo Fighters at the Reds stadium. The opening acts were Mammoth – the band led by Wolfie Van Halen, son of Eddie and Valerie Bertinelli – and the Pretenders, a band I adore.
I wasn’t planning to attend – the ticket prices for those big shows are waaay too high to suit me. I’d rather spend $200 on eight $25 club shows. But my friend Paul had an extra ticket. And I’d always wanted to see the Foo Fighters live. How could I refuse?
Photo credit: Sam Greene, The Cincinnati Enquirer
I’m really glad I went. I see what all the Foo fuss is about. Dave Grohl is incredibly energetic and charismatic, his band mates are extremely talented, and they put on a heck of a show. Their song catalog is perfect for stadiums too – a lot of singalong anthems. I don’t know how Grohl is able to scream his way through two-and-a-half-hour shows on a regular basis. My vocal cords would be shredded into sawdust.
Photo credit: Sam Greene, The Cincinnati Enquirer
I have some high-fidelity noise-reducing earplugs (as a regular concert goer, I highly recommend them – here’s my brand) but didn’t bring them because I didn’t think I’d need them in an open-air stadium. I was wrong. It was LOUD.
The Foos hit the stage at 8 p.m. and wrapped up their main set at around 10:15, then came back for an encore. As my friend Paul said, “Now there’s a guy (Dave Grohl) who loves his job!”
Photo credit: Sam Greene, The Cincinnati Enquirer
It was really cool to see a show like that where 38,000 fans were singing along. But after the sun set, I found it hard to keep my eyes from straying from the band on stage to the giant TV screens to the left and right of the stage. It’s hard to not look… but then you’re essentially watching a show on TV vs. seeing a concert.
Net-net: I loved it and I’m really glad I got a chance to see them live. But I think I’ll go back to my club shows. Stadiums are cool, but I’m a “small ball” music dude at heart.
Bob Newhart passed away Thursday at the ripe old age of 94. His humor, on the other hand, will never grow old and never leave us.
There are very few other comedians — if any — who could get laughs out of just one side of pretend phone conversations.
Bob did more with the pregnant pause than most comedians could do with 20 lines of dialogue. He was perfectly content to play the “normal” guy surrounded by wacky characters. And he crushed it for decades, starting with a best selling comedy album in the 60s, then The Bob Newhart Show in the 70s, Newhart in the 80s (with one of the best show finales ever).
Papa Elf in Elf in 2003, a guest actor Emmy in 2013 on The Big Bang Theory… He guest-hosted for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show 87 times, and always told great stories on the late-night talk shows, especially the ones about his bestie Don Rickles.
LOS ANGELES – MAY 31: Legendary comedians and their wives (L-R) Don Rickles, Barbara Rickles, Ginnie Newhart, and Bob Newhart pose for a portrait backstage at the Las Vegas Convention Center at the AARP convention in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 31, 2013. (Photo by Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
And he was a lovable off-camera as he was on it.
“He was as kind and nice as he was funny. “
Carol Burnett
Oh, and he was married to his wife “Ginny” for 60+ years until she passed last year.
Not bad for a failed accountant.
Bye, Bob… the world misses your warmth and humor already.
Damian on Connecting the Dots: “Thanks for reading, Doug! Not surprised that your media roots run deep.” Jul 3, 23:07
Douglas Balogh on Connecting the Dots: “6 degrees from KSD. They were my client when they were a Pulitzer station. Tell Alicia I was with Blair…” Jul 2, 22:40
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