Larry the K's Lineup

The pandemic has taken a lot from us, as this column, first published in September, shows – and it’s still robbing us of a heckuva lot of daily activities that we once took for granted, including shaking friends’ and colleagues’ hands. Much of the blame is twofold: The nation’s failure to have a cohesive national policy to combat the virus, and having two vastly different responses to the pandemic: * HANDS-OFF APPROACH:  This is being taken by the president and his allies, who are insisting that the virus – despite spreading like wild fires in dozens and dozens of states – is winding down. The president’s unsupported and often-repeated rhetoric that the nation is “rounding the turn” on the virus even as cases continue to skyrocket nationwide is hurting the country's ability to control the virus. The result has been a complete lack of interest by the federal government in continuing to fight the virus, which is basically a laissez-faire approach. It was especially disheartening t...

Visiting the doctor or dentist seldom has been what you’d call an enjoyable experience even if you like your provider, which hopefully you do or else you should find another one. I’m fortunate to like my doctor and dentist, the former whom I’ve had for about 35 years.  But in the last several years, far too many doctors’ and dentists’ offices started treating their senior patients like we’re all one step away from being “dementiaed-out” when it comes to receiving numerous “friendly reminders” about our appointments.  We used to get a text, email and at least one phone call reminding us about the appointment, which was redundant, but now – in this depressing and horrid age of COVID-19 --- patients are receiving multiple notifications on different platforms followed by questionnaires asking us whether and when we left our house – not quite, but practically. That practice isn't likely to go away when and if the pandemic ever ends, since the medical community prides itself on coll...

PATRIOTS: New England Patriots fans, in the wake of the team’s embarrassing home defeats the last two weekends against the Denver Broncos (18-12) and San Francisco 49ers (33-6), should drastically lower their expectations for the team for the rest of 2020 as the Patriots are mediocre at best, and extremely challenged and flawed at worst.  Cam Newton has clearly not been the same quarterback since his COVID-19 positive test in early October, so you have to wonder if he’s hurt, or if he’s not fully recovered from his positive exposure. But, unless he’s able to turn around his play, starting with Sunday’s away game at the Buffalo Bills, the Patriots will be closer to the NFL’s bad teams than to the league’s better ones. I’m hoping that the 2020 Patriots aren’t as bad as they’ve looked the last couple of weeks, but they ultimately have to show on the field that they’re much better than their last two losses. WORLD SERIES: The Los Angeles Dodgers captured their first World Series title...

Since this column was published in mid-August, we received some good news on sports. Baseball, after a rough start, made it all the way to the World Series, and both the NBA and NHL crowned champs (Los Angeles Lakers and Tampa Bay Lightning) in their bubbles. The NFL season has been progressing, but with many interruptions and changes in the schedule due to COVID-19 outbreaks.  Elsewhere, despite the president’s illness, he refuses to wear a mask at most gatherings and disparages those who do, including his opponent, whom he mocks for wearing a mask. Such blatant disregard for health directives issued by his own administration has contributed to a good portion of Americans following his lead and ignoring social-distancing guidelines. As a result, our nation is like an animal on a treadmill: pushing hard to get nowhere – and we are at best only marginally better off as a nation almost nine months into this pandemic than we were in early March. On some of the other points in this col...

My longtime friend and colleague at The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA, veteran police and court reporter David Linton, had this uplifting story this week about an elderly couple – who had been abandoned by their movers with furniture on the front lawn just as rain arrived – were given a timely lift by the Attleboro police. Check it out. It’s a heartwarming story in its own right, and it also proves yet again the danger of lumping all of any one group into one basket. These Attleboro police officers showed compassion for people in need, and absolutely did the right thing. They deserve their community’s thanks. Here's the link to the article:   www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/for-elderly-couple-attleboro-police-pick-up-where-movers-left-off/article_dd9edcdc-ab30-53d4-b39d-0472e518365d.html#tncms-source=article-nav-next

These worries date from July, but they are just as relevant and real in October, and will continue to be, as long as we continue to have our lives ruled by the pandemic, and the country’s haphazard handling of it. Thanks to the leadership void on the federal level, Americans have been at the mercy of governors like the one in Florida who have opened up their states with little or no restrictions, or like the ones in the Northeast, who every time their cases spike after they relax the rules or move into a new phase, respond with threats to lock us all down again, or revert to an earlier phases when a lot less was open. With such a contradictory and aimless approach by the federal and state governments --- which leave the vast majority of us just trying to cope every day with our leaders’ abject failures --- it’s little wonder that these worries will unfortunately be with us for a very long while.  Given that backdrop, here’s a thought: Instead of being patronized and insulted by the...

DODGERS VS. RAYS: After some reflection, my heart is in the Dodgers to win the World Series, which would allow manager Dave Roberts to lead LA to its first World Series in 32 years after he lost the 2017 series in seven games to the Houston Astros and the 2018 series in five games to the Red Sox.  But I won’t be too upset if the Rays win, although their fans have been less than loyal over the years. Even in the Rays’ good years, the “The Trop” was rarely packed, and for years, Red Sox fans found it cheaper to fly to Florida for a weekend series than it was to get tickets to games at Fenway.  OPENERS vs. STARTERS: I may be sounding my age, but using an “opener” on a regular basis, as the Rays do, is especially lame in big games. The Rays did that in the ALCS. Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy criticized the Rays for that in a column on Tuesday, and I’d have to agree. Baseball has strayed a long way from its roots when it uses “openers” in post-season play.  Compare ...

In June, one of the biggest Attleboro area fundraisers, the Greater Attleboro Relay For Life to benefit the American Cancer Society, was forced by the pandemic to forgo its in-person event for its 22 nd year and instead hold a virtual one. The event helped the relay raise more than $60,000 for the cancer society, but the hundreds of volunteers, organizers and participants, who have been accustomed to the inspiration provided by the in-person events over the years, still greatly missed the in-person event. I’m sharing this column now, because, as we approach late October, far too many aspects of our lives remain stuck in a virtual limbo, or more correctly, a virtual purgatory, with little hope of escaping. Here's hoping our politicians stop caring about only their own fates and start working together to begin to take this pandemic seriously. The health experts don’t deserve to be skewered and lambasted by the person who is supposed to be our leader. This column was published in...

Rays vs. Astros: Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Rays for not becoming the first team since the 2004 New York Yankees to blow a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven championship series after beating the Houston Astros 4-2 in Game 7. The Rays advanced to the World Series for the first time since beating the Red Sox in seven games in 2008. (The Yankees, of course, blew their lead to the curse-busting Red Sox.) Red Sox and most baseball fans should be glad that the Houston Astros didn’t complete their comeback because the Astros, except for manager Dusty Baker, aren’t likeable and have never regretted their 2017 sign-stealing cheating scandal that got their manager and general manager fired and suspended for a year from baseball. The scandal also resulted in the suspension for a year of the Astros' bench coach, Alex Cora, who, of course, became the Red Sox manager in 2018, and who was let go by the Sox in January. In addition, the Astros would have been the first team to ever go to the World...

  In June, with the virus subsiding in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, there was at least a little hope for a brighter future, but of course that optimism has proven to be mostly unfounded as in mid-October, we’re seeing cases rising and governors threatening to tighten their grip on our lives and fulfill their "mission" of keeping us apart forever, as they flex their muscles over all of us, because too many people are still ignoring restrictions and holding gatherings, parties and failing to wear masks! C'mon people: Give the rest of us a break, will you please? (Just the other day, on Oct. 14, I was in Stop & Shop in South Attleboro, MA --- a “red” zone of high cases in the Bay State --- and a middle-aged man plowed past me going the WRONG WAY in a one-way aisle with his mask DOWN! With such open defiance of COVID-19 rules, it’s little wonder why we are not going to see improvement in the United States anytime soon.)  In this column from June, I tried to be positiv...

These terms and expressions relating to the pandemic were relatively new when I first wrote this column in May, but are still very much with us in October, some seven-plus months into the pandemic. We seem to be like the dog who chases his tail: We exert ourselves a lot chasing remedies for this pandemic, but make very little progress, and we're all to blame. Now, with the depressing and gloomy winter looming --- when it will be more difficult to congregate outside --- we all face an uncertain future, and the chances of regaining even a glimpse of our previous normal lives dissipate with every passing day. Question and complaint: Why do government officials like Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker simultaneously fret about the rise in cases while also opening up the state even further by activating “Step 2” of “Phase 3,” which increased the number of people allowed to gather indoors at museums and other venues, and especially restaurants? That makes no sense since it’s clear that...

Baseball has, over the last several weeks, lost several Hall-of-Famers, including some who were fierce competitors against the Red Sox: Lou Brock: The speedster was a force in the 1967 Impossible Dream World Series loss in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals. Bob Gibson: One of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, Gibson won three games in the 1967 World Series, including the Game 7 clincher, when he outdueled Red Sox ace Jim Lonborg, who was pitching on two days’ rest. Gibson also followed that up with an overpowering 1968 season, after which the pitching mound was lowered because the hitters were being so dominated by power pitchers. Trivia question: Which Red Sox player hit a home run off Gibson in Game 1 of the ’67 World Series to account for the only Red Sox run in the team’s 2-1 loss to the Cardinals? (Answer below). Joe Morgan: The Hall of Fame second baseman was one of the main contributors to the Big Red Machine Cincinnati Reds, and his tie-breaking single wit...

  In this column, which was published in the May edition of Jewish Rhode Island , we had started to realize that, about two months into the pandemic, we were going to be in it for the long haul. The outlook for summer was bleak as far as resuming most “normal” activities. Now, looking back at that time from early October, any inkling that we had then that the virus was going to be with us for a long while was right as now the virus continues to show no signs of letting up. As I write this, people ignoring social-distancing and mask protocols have led to cases increasing in once-stable Massachusetts and Rhode Island. So it seems that the more protocols such as limits on gatherings are relaxed, the more we risk the virus coming back with a vengeance. Our whole disjointed response to this deadly virus has been truly upsetting and discouraging. May column in the Jewish Rhode Island of Providence So much has changed since the first column that I did on the coronavirus pandemic in mid-M...

  I wrote this in a column that appeared in August in The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA, about the likelihood of football making it through an entire season: “ It also will be surprising if the NFL, which stuck to its original schedule that includes cross-country trips and a lot of travel, can hold a full season, even without fans. Adding them would be a mistake.” The situation is fluid, but at this point, with the NFL trying to push on to play its season despite the 20-plus positive COVID-19 tests in Tennessee and the Patriots having traveled to Kansas City for a Monday night game despite the positive test by quarterback Cam Newton two days earlier, it’s not premature to question why the NFL insists on continuing as it is. It should haven’t been surprising then, that on Wednesday (Oct. 7), Patriots star cornerback Stephon Gilmore also tested positive. That news doesn’t bode well for the season being able to last without numerous interruptions. Unlike baseball, which limited tr...

Celtics vs. Heat: The better team won: Celtics’ fans might want to argue over whether the better team won the Miami Heat-Celtics best-of-seven Eastern Conference final series (the Celtics lost 4 games to 2), but clearly that was the case. When Games 1, 2 and 6 were on the line, and with the Celtics holding 12, 14 and 6 point leads, respectively, the Celtics failed to show an ability to close out those games, losing all three, and they collapsed in embarrassing fashion down the stretch in Game 6, the clincher. Everyone agrees that their bench isn’t strong enough, but it remains to be seen what kind of players Celtics’ basketball boss Danny Ainge will be able to add to the roster. Celtics fans should root for the Heat, who played with a lot of heart against the Celtics, in the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. (The Heat are trying to recover from what, entering tonight’s game (Tuesday, Oct. 6) is a 2-1 deficit.) The Lakers, especially with the Heat’s injured players, have the ed...

Fifty-three years ago today, the Boston Red Sox franchise was transformed when the Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 5-3 to clinch a tie for the American League pennant in the next-to-last season before baseball started its playoff system and created divisions. (In 1967, there were 10 teams in both the American and National leagues, with the two pennant-winners meeting in the World Series.) Later on Sunday, Oct. 1, 1967, the California Angels --- who were at one time in the thick of what had been a five-team pennant race   also involving the Twins, Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox besides the Red Sox --- beat the Tigers in the second game of a doubleheader to make the Red Sox American League champions. The Red Sox winning the American League pennant after 21 years of futility, mediocrity and several losing seasons completed the team’s Impossible Dream season of a team that in 1966 had finished in ninth place, barely out of the cellar, and before spring training in 1967 had been du...