Abraham's Son, Chapter 9

 EXT. IN BACK OF BAR ­ NIGHT

SARA and DAVE light cigarettes and smoke them in silence.  Then DAVE gets closer to SARA. 

DAVE: You know, you really turn me on.  

SARA: What's that supposed to mean? 

DAVE leans forward taking hold of SARA's shoulders and attempts to kiss her.  SARA at first hesitates, but after their lips awkwardly touch, she accepts his kiss and responds gently.

SARA: That was nice.  But, don't get the wrong idea.  I'm not fucking you tonight.  We just met.  

DAVE: Calm down.  Who said I wanted to fuck you?  I just wanted to see how you kiss. 

SARA: So, what do ya think? 

DAVE: Not sure yet.

They kiss again, this time in a mutual embrace.  However, DAVE starts touching SARA's breasts.  She is startled. 

SARA: Okay, fella, that's enough.  Back off. 

DAVE: No problem.  I thought you'd want it. 

SARA: Not tonight.  We just got introduced.  (pause)  Why don't we go back inside and you buy me another beer.

DAVE: Sure. 

SARA and DAVE re­enter the bar.

EXT. IN FRONT OF SYNAGOGUE ­ DAY 

It's next Saturday morning.  ABRAHAM waits outside synagogue before religious services are scheduled to begin.  Finally, he sees SANDY approaching.  He walks toward her. 

ABRAHAM: SANDY, gut shabbos. 

SANDY: Gut shabbos, ABRAHAM.  Nice to see you again.

ABRAHAM: Look, I'm sorry for my behavior last Sunday.  I was rude.  I know you were only trying to be friendly.  That's an area I have difficulty talking about.  I hope you'll forgive me. 

SANDY: Of course I forgive you. 

ABRAHAM: Thank you.  (pause) I owe you for the wonderful food I ate at your open house.  How about having dinner with me some time? 

SANDY: That would be wonderful. 

ABRAHAM: When's good for you? 

SANDY 8:00 tonight. 

ABRAHAM: (hesitating) I'll pick you up.  Shall we go inside?

SANDY: I'd love to.

SANDY and ABRAHAM enter the synagogue together.

_________

I will be on vacation the next two Sundays.  The next blog post will be October 9.

Heavyweight Boxing Championship Fight

 On February 6, 1993, a friend of mine and I attended a heavyweight boxing championship fight at Madison Square Garden in New York City.  On December 7, 1963, I had attended another championship fight (middleweight), this time in Atlantic City, NJ.  But the heavyweight championship is the ultimate boxing event.

The champion was Riddick Bowe, undefeated with 32 fights.  That included 27 by knockout.  It was his first defense of his title after defeating the previous champion, Evander Holyfield, three months earlier.

Bowe was born August 10, 1967 in Brooklyn, NY (25 years-old).  In the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, he won the Silver Medal (second place) in the heavyweight boxing division.  Bowe turned professional in March 1989.  

The challenger was Michael Dokes who had a record of 50 wins (33 knockouts), 3 losses (2 knockouts) and 2 draws.  He had a 9 fight winning streak (5 knockouts) over the previous 15 months.

Dokes was born August 10, 1958 in Akron, OH (34 years-old, with the same birthday as Bowe).  He also won a silver medal at the 1975 Pan American Games.  Dokes turned pro in 1976.      

In 1982, Dokes won the heavyweight championship when he knocked out Mike Weaver in one round.  He lost the title 10 months later when he was knocked out by Gerrie Coetzee.

The Bowe-Dokes fight last only 2 minutes, 18 seconds.  After Dokes took some damaging punches from Bowe, Referee Joe Santarpia stopped the fight.  Bowe retained his championship.  We had hardly warmed our seats when it was time to go home.

Many in the large crowd did not like the referee's decision as they believed they did not get their money's worth.  Afterall, Dokes was never off his feet.  However, ring side commentator and former heavyweight champion, George Foreman, thought the referee should have stopped the fight sooner.

Bowe lost his title back to Holyfield by a decision in November 1993 (his only defeat).  He avenged that by knocking out Holyfield in November 1995.  Bowe's last fight was in 2008.

Alongside Gene Tunney, Rocky Marciano, Sultan Ibragimov and Nikolai Valuev, Bowe is one of only five former heavyweight champions to have never suffered a stoppage defeat during his career.

Bowe was convicted of the February 1998 kidnapping of his estranged wife Judy, and their five children.  Thinking it would reconcile his marriage, Bowe went to his wife's Cornelius, North Carolina home and threatened her with a knife, handcuffs, duct tape, and pepper spray. 

Bowe forced her and their children into a vehicle and set out for his Fort Washington, Maryland home.  During the kidnapping, he stabbed his wife in the chest.  Police captured Bowe in South Hill, Virginia, freeing his family.   

Bowe agreed to a plea bargain of guilty to "interstate domestic violence", and was sentenced to 18 to 24 months in Federal prison.  He served 17 months.

Dokes had five more fights over the next four years.  In 1999 Dokes was sentenced to between four and fifteen years in prison after being convicted of an attack on his fiancée in August 1998.  Late in 2008, he was released on parole.  

Dokes died of liver cancer at a hospice in Akron in 2012, a day after his 54th birthday.

 

  

Field of Dreams

 Kevin Costner, the actor, was born in 1955 in Lynwood, CA.  As a young man, after a chance encounter on a commercial airliner with Richard Burton, the actor, he decided to pursue an acting career.  Costner has been in three films with a baseball theme.

In 1988, Costner portrayed Crash Davis, a veteran minor league baseball player in the film Bull Durham, which also starred Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins.  The title refers to the name of the team, the Bulls, located in Durham, NC.  

For six years, I lived in nearby Chapel Hill.  With my friend and fellow baseball fan, Bob Duprez, I once attended a Durham Bulls home game.

My favorite quote from the movie is when Crash, while at bat, calls time out and goes over to the bat boy for a rag to wipe his bat.  

Bat boy:  Get a hit, Crash.

Crash:  Shut Up.

In 1989, Costner played Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer, in the film Field of Dreams, which also starred Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta, Dwier Brown and Burt Lancaster (in his last movie).  Walking through his cornfield one day, he hears a mysterious voice say, "If you build it, he will come."

Build what?  Who is he?  Ray sees a vision of a baseball diamond in the cornfield and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson (a former baseball player who in real-life died in 1951) standing in the middle.  Ray plows under part of their corn crop to build a baseball field at risk of financial hardship.

Some time later, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) walks out from the remaining cornfield and asks if other (dead) ballplayers from his era (1908-1920) can join him and play on Ray's baseball diamond.

It turns out it wasn't "Shoeless" Joe Jackson who was the he, as in "he will come."  It was Ray's father, John Kinsella (Brown).  

John had been playing catcher and when he removed his mask, Ray recognizes his late father as a young man.   As John begins to head towards the cornfield, Ray, calling him "Dad", asks if he wants to have a catch. John gladly accepts. 

This scene brings to my mind the many times I played catch with my son Bret when he was a boy.  Ray and I shared a love for the game of baseball which can bring together fathers and sons.  

In 1999, Costner starred in the film For Love of the Game as major league pitcher Billy Chapel near the end of his career.  The beloved announcer Vin Scully portrayed himself while broadcasting the game Chapel was pitching against the New York Yankees.

Chapel pitches a perfect game (27 batters, 27 outs) and then retires from professional baseball.  From 1880 until today, there have been only 23 perfect games in Major League Baseball.  A rare event!