It's All in the Name

Have you ever heard someone say "who would give there kid a name like that"?  How about just meeting someone with a name that seems strange to you (you know, we all have our opinions of what is strange and what is not)?  Well, tonight I didn't know whether I was reading a tabloid sensational story or if I should just get on my knees and start praying.  Lord Jesus Christ was run down in a cross walk in Northampton, MA.  I almost fell down when I learned the Lord Jesus Christ lived in my home town!

I can't be making this up, read it for yourself as the Washington Post, the Boston Globe or as the Associated Press reported it.  Lord Jesus Christ.  I won't speculate how he got the name, I don't want this to turn into a religious discussion.

Reading about Lord Jesus Christ immediately reminded me of my kids art teacher when we lived in New Salem, MA, Sally Alley Muffin Stuffin.  it's true, that's her legal name, she teaches at Swift River School.  Check it out. 

That got me thinking, other than the made up weird names like the author of "The Tiger's Revenge", Claude Balls; what other names are out there that real people have that some of us might think, that's a little strange.  Help me out, provide some facts so we know it's real.

We're now part of the Junior Wolfpack

My son Ryan has taken the next step in his hockey quest by signing a player agreement with the Hartford Junior Wolfpack on Monday, May 3rd. He will be playing the 2010-2011 season out of Champions Arena in Cromwell, CT.

The Hartford Junior Wolf Pack has grown over the seasons and has been developing ways for local and far away players to come and develop in order to take the proper steps to have a successful career on and off the ice. The organization fields one Junior A team (AJHL), a Junior B team (MJHL). A goal of the Wolfpack organization is to provide our players the opportunity to further their education while participating in one of the top junior leagues in the United States. Their goal is to prepare each player to the best of their ability for life on and off the ice and prepare them for the next chapter of their career. The Junior Wolfpack organization is owned and operated by two ex NHL Hockey Players Bob Crawford and Dan McCarthy and as former players they know all the resources needed to run a successful Organization. Crawford and McCarthy have placed Chris Cerrella in the role as Director of Hockey Operations and is also the Head Coach/General Manager of both Junior A and B teams.

As an inspiring student athlete, players must be the best player at the highest possible level. The Wolfpack recruits the hardest working and most dedicated student athletes they can find from all over the country.

This will be a great opportunity to see how Ryan takes his skills and small frame to the ice to make some noise with the BIG BOYS!! The Wolfpack Web site says "Junior A hockey is the pinnacle of the skill development program of USA Hockey, and is an important component in the overall development process for elite high school & college student athletes developing as hockey players. Junior Hockey is a stepping-stone and the path to future success at the collegiate, professional, and international levels of hockey".

Ryan goes to the Wolfpack after a successful year playing U-18/Junior-Prep at Ontario Hockey Academy in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada under head ex-NHL'er Ray Sheppard where he is due to receive his high school diploma on May 15, 2010. Ryan carries a 3.97 GPA and considering the study of Kinesiology after a year or two of junior hockey.

We're proud of you Ryan... remember, focus on the prize, outwork everyone and reach for the stars, and most of all, regardless of where all this leads, have fun living your dream.

I don't know if Andy Rooney really said this or if it is just a factual concoction someone else wrote to make it sound like an Andy Rooney comentary. If Andy didn't say this, maybe he should have. Parts of it also remind me of Larry Winget, I can hear him saying it like it is.

Maybe it's time more of us stand up and speak out like the Andy's and Larry's of the world.

'I don't think being a minority makes you a victim of anything except numbers. The only things I can think of that are truly discriminatory are things like the United Negro College Fund, Jet Magazine, Black Entertainment Television, and Miss Black America.

Try to have things like the United Caucasian College Fund, Cloud Magazine, White Entertainment Television, or Miss White America ; and see what happens... Jesse Jackson will be knocking down your door.

Guns do not make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer. You can kill someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is trying to ban you from driving to the ball game.

I believe they are called the Boy Scouts for a reason, which is why there are no girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl Scouts! ARE YOU LISTENING MARTHA BURKE ?

I think that if you feel homosexuality is wrong, it is not a phobia, it is an opinion.

I have the right 'NOT' to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird, or tick me off.

When 70% of the people who get arrested are black, in cities where 70% of the population is black, that is not racial profiling; it is the Law of Probability.

I believe that if you are selling me a milkshake, a pack of cigarettes, a newspaper or a hotel room, you must do it in English! As a matter of fact, if you want to be an American citizen, you should have to speak English!

My father and grandfather didn't die in vain so you can leave the countries you were born in to come over and disrespect ours.

I think the police should have every right to shoot you if you threaten them after they tell you to stop. If you can't understand the word 'freeze' or 'stop' in English, see the above lines..

I don't think just because you were not born in this country, you are qualified for any special loan programs, government sponsored bank loans or tax breaks, etc., so you can open a hotel, coffee shop, trinket store, or any other business.


We did not go to the aid of certain foreign countries and risk our lives in wars to defend their freedoms, so that decades later they could come over here and tell us our constitution is a living document and open to their interpretations.

I don't hate the rich; I don't pity the poor.

I know pro wrestling is fake, but so are movies and television. That doesn't stop you from watching them.

I think Bill Gates has every right to keep every penny he made and continue to make more. If it ticks you off, go and invent the next operating system that's better, and put your name on the building.

It doesn't take a whole village to raise a child right, but it does take a parent to stand up to the kid and say 'NO!' when necessary.

I think tattoos and piercings are fine if you want them, but please don't pretend they are a political statement. And, please, stay home until that new lip ring heals. I don't want to look at your ugly infected mouth as you serve me French fries!

I am sick of 'Political Correctness.' I know a lot of black people, and not a single one of them was born in Africa , so how can they be 'African-Americans'? Besides, Africa is a continent. I don't go around saying I am a European-American because my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was from Europe. I am proud to be from America and nowhere else.

And if you don't like my point of view, tough...

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG, OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND TO THE REPUBLIC, FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!

I was asked to send this on if I agree or delete if I don't. It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God.. Therefore I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a problem in having 'In God We Trust' on our money and having 'God' in the Pledge of Allegiance. Why don't we just tell the 14% to BE QUIET!!!'

OK, so I have have been lax... very lax

Not that anyone has noticed other than me, but I have been very lax (exspecially after I said I would write every day). Focus Dan, focus. OK, here's the list of things I hope to get back on track with....

• Snow day? Where's the snow?
  Have we just become too protective and worried about what if?
• Does every mole hill HAVE to become a mountain?
  Seems to me that nearly everything become such as issue... gees!
• Can we make 48 hour days?
  I just never seem to have enough time to do all I want... and I'm so tired
• Drama, drama, drama... just get up and smell the roses!
  that should speak for itself....
• My granddaughters are getting so big... do they know their grandpa?
  So close, yet so far.... sounds like an excuse, doesn't it?

OK, that's where I think I'll start.... after hockey practice (obviously I'm not practicing)

Brianna at 6 months already

It is hard to believe Bri is already at the 6 month mark. WOW, how time flies!

I actually got to hold her for about 5 minutes on Christmas (in February - it's a loing story, but we are just getting together finally to celebrate Christmas this past year).

She sure is cute and I tink looks a lot like my baby pictures!

Are things really that bad?

The past year seemed to be another testing year in my life, when it seemed like not all things were going as I hoped they would be. I already wrote about my Dad's passing away, Ryan's injury at hockey (http://tinyurl.com/d9ybll) and re injury (http://tinyurl.com/cq5wxy), the good and bad at work and on and on.... but is it all that bad?

Last night I met a couple, he's 37, she's 36. He has just completed a bout with Hodgkin's disease and chemotherapy and today the news is good, thank God, and we think we have it bad. Since his illness, he had not been able to work, she held down 3 jobs. Yet there are some people that sit around complaining about there job, the lack of hours or actually having to do some work for a pay check. She did what it took and we think we have it bad.

Did I mention that years ago, a Baby had been left abandoned on their door step and they took it in and have since adopted the child from unknown parents.... without question, and we complain and think we have it bad.

Did I tell you about where they live? Since they could no long afford their apartment, they were given an old farmhouse to live in rent free.... referred to as the shack.... why, because it is a shack. Holes in the floor, no doors on the cupboard.... a place most would not considered as a place to live, and we think we have it bad.

It's time we start extending a hand to those that really need a hand... especially those that aren't asking for a hand. Oh yea, I almost forgot to mention she also helps care for a quadriplegic relative without question.

God love you both, and we think we have it bad.

Concussions - what all parents, players and coaches should know

I'm not a medical person, just a proud parent of some outstanding athletics, one of which is a member of his Buccaneer organization. Ryan suffered a grade 2 concussion at practice on October 6th. No one on the ice was aware of it or that he was injured.... and until yesterday, listening to Ryan describe what happen to staff at Elite Sports Medicine in Connecticut and hearing him say things like "ya, I was dazed, but just kept right on with the drill, that's what we do" did the seriousness of playing injured hit me. In his case, the symptoms did not really start to manifest until 30 minutes or so after the hit that dazed him, and eventually put him in the hospital for a week. Even more important are the moments when Ryan seems like he is "feeling better" or "acting like the old Ryan". It really is not time for him to be doing anything, let along playing hockey. As one person at Elite said, we can cast a broken bone, we can't cast the brian. The scary part is second impact syndrome - something I had never heard of - getting a second concussion on top of one that is still in the healing process....

Playing on after a hit that makes you see stars can be worse than the original injury. Returning to play at any time when you are still feeling the effects of any hit.... ANY symptom at all... slight head aches, dazed feelings, still seeing the stars, nausea, light headed, not feeling yourself 100% and the list goes on are all times to stay seated. Second impact syndrome can change a players life forever, or take it away.

To the players: only you know if you have the symptoms, don't cheat yourself and don't cut yourself short and try to play through it because you are a tough guy (or gal) or other players are calling you a wimp. Afterall, IT IS a game, quality of life is not a game. You might miss a few games, you might miss the rest of the season.... your health is more important than anything. From a New York Daily News story about Ryne Dougherty: "Varsity coach Ed Lebida told the Daily News on Wednesday that Dougherty, who had suffered a concussion in practice Sept. 18, had been "cleared medically" to resume playing, although classmates indicated the player had told friends he was "obsessed with football" and had insisted on playing Monday despite experiencing blurred vision and headaches". Ryne died October 15th because he came back too soon.

I urge you to read this articles:
Lacrosse Injuries: "Second-Impact Syndrome" Concussions Can Lead to Coma or Death
New Post-Concussion Management Recommendations
Repeat concussions can lead to coma
High Price to Pay for Concussions
Back in 1998 -> Number of concussions has the NHL in a Search for Answers
NHL must address increasing danger of hits to head

I could list dozens of more articles. The important message to kids, parents and coaches alike is... don't play through the pain. Don't hide a head injury, it just isn't worth it. There is no game, no team, no one moment that makes it worth the risk.

Lastly, I am gathering more information on ImPACT testing that EVERY player, in any sport, should have done. It's too late for Ryan to have that done now (for this injury), the testing has to be done before an injury. I will share with everyone once I have gathered more information.

Finally, I again want to thank Coach Tondera for his amazing support and encouragement to Ryan during this whole ordeal. Our many, many thanks Erik.