NEW YORK – As the 2022 Holiday Season begins this week with Thanksgiving Day, this November 24, 2022, there’s no better time to STOP and THINK about the important things in our lives and to be thankful for each and every one of them, each and every day.

When Santa Claus rides into the official MACY*S Thanksgiving Day Parade, it’s open season for Christmas, complete with seasonal music, decorations, shopping and (hopefully) tidings of comfort and joy.

For starters, I’m thankful for my family. My two daughters are the definition of 1,000 Points of Light and Joy. Surprisingly, it’s been quite a challenge for me and my wife to be the parents of adult children as we miss them as they carry-out their lives. As an empty nester, I’ve sought advice from experienced parents and some of the smartest people on the planet. Everyone says the same thing, “Let them go and grow.” I’ve been a big believer in that tactic ever since our family decision to enroll each of my daughters in CITYterm – a program run from The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, NY. So sadly, CITYterm no longer exists but it was the single most important experience of my two daughter’s lives and a monumental step forward for our family and their maturation process to help prepare them for college. I knew that between their education in NYC/Boston and the CITYterm experience, they were ready.

A wonderful holiday tradition we should all be thankful for each year is the lighting of the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center. From 1981 through 2008, the great Christmas Tree kept me company as my office overlooked St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue and the tree was just a block away. For the most part, I visited it daily on my commute and always stopped in wonder of its beauty, size and spirit. It was the best part about working in the Rock Center area, although the holiday crowds were a bit overwhelming. But, it beat sinking into the asphalt of 5th Ave on a 98-degree summer day. That’s for sure. This year, the tree will be lit on November 30th. It will measure 82 feet in height and is 50 feet wide, weighing 14 tons with over 50,000 lights to do the tree the major league status of a Rock Center tree. It hails from Queensbury, a town between Glens Falls and Lake George in Upstate New York.

In addition to my immediate family, I’m thankful for and deeply appreciative of my “original” immediate family, my mother, age 97, and my brother, Thomas, and his family, along with the whole gang – Tim, Christopher, Sean and Paul – and their terrific families. The Martin side of the coin is equally great and there’s FAR too many to name each and everyone, but they’re all so wonderful and have played such an important role in our Massachusetts-based life, among many other important aspects of growth and helping us all face the challenges of the many CH, CH, CH – Changes.

Some other reasons to be thankful – rapid fire – are: Brian, Matt, T Walsh, Josh, and Spy. Johnnie, Dave G, Dana, Higor, Dave Oh, and Arty, of course. Hundreds of Mass-based friends – John MacKinnon, Stephen Berger, Matt Hauber – now in Christchurch for goodness sake. I’m thankful for the Holy Trinity ‘77 and surrounding years “kids” and the Keswick Americans. The literary crew: Bob Delaney, Dave Scheiber, Philip Turner and his son Ewan who have all taught me so much. NO name dropping allowed, but I have to say thanks to Bill and Lori and to Bruce Hornsby and his son – my European basketball man, Keith, now playing in France’s Div. I LNB for Nanterre 92.

Thanks to my Red Sox Press Box family, headed up by attendant Kevin Doyle. I miss them already, but there’s only about 85 days to go until Pitchers and Catchers report.

Also, thanks to Howie for the intro to the wonderful world of Derek and Susan and the TTB. What a series of albums entitled, “I Am the Moon.” Brilliant and a new genre of music to enjoy. Buy it.

Column inches will make me stop here, but sincere thanks to everyone in my life. I’ll be back at New Year’s with an extended list.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Ben Martin and Patrick Rodgers – both at (-14) – are tied for the lead at the RSM Classic, the final tournament of the PGA Tour’s Fall season. The next official tournament is the Sentry Tournament of Champions, scheduled January 5-8 in Maui, Hawaii.

That’s when PGA Tour Brunch will return and post mobile-friendly e-news six days a week. Fact-filled PGA Tour Brunch will take you all the way to the Tour Championship in August and is the PERFECT holiday gift for your favorite golf fan.

COUNTDOWN TO THE WORLD CUP: It’s here! The long-awaited World Cup begins today with home nation Qatar vs. Ecuador match on FS-1. This week, the focus wasn’t on the tournament but instead the banning of alcohol within WC venues. The decision will cost WC sponsor Budweiser millions but will be cause for hooligans from every nation to attempt to “sneak-in” their favorite spirits and beverages. … Budweiser was scheduled to sell beer within the event-ticketed perimeter surrounding each of the eight stadiums before and after each game. But, this week the last minute decision was made to ban alcohol and serve only Bud Zero. … The world famous beer brand, which is one of FIFA’s longtime partners, responded with a Tweet, “Well, this is awkward,” although the post was quickly deleted. … This is the first World Cup staged in an ultra-conservative, Muslim-based country with very strict controls on all alcohol consumption. Spectators can drink beer in the evenings in “the official FIFA Fan Festival,” a designated party area that also offers live music and activities, and in stadium hospitality suites for sponsors and VVIP guests, a policy similar to the NCAA Final Four in the USA.

Speaking of the USA, the USMNT opens-up play on Monday vs. Wales.

What’s WWYI favorite nation?

Dough-Nation! – Click HERE for PGA Tour Brunch or HERE for While We’re Young (Ideas).

TID-BITS: The Gavitt Games were played this week and BIG EAST rep Georgetown faced the Big Ten’s Northwestern Wildcats. With 4:52 remaining in the first half, Patrick Ewing’s Hoyas led by five, 28-23. But with :48 left in the game, Northwestern led 75-60 – a mere 20-point swing. A bad beat for Ewing, Georgetown and the BIG EAST. … On the other hand, Nebraska was leading St. John’s 22-12 with 5:07 left in the first half of a rough and tough defensive battle. In the second half, two different teams showed up, as St. John’s outscored the Cornhuskers 50-23 to take a 70-50 lead at the final buzzer. … Milwaukee Bucks star and former NBA MVP Giannis  Antetokounmpo created quite a stir on Friday night after his 4-for-15 debacle from the free throw line in a 110-102 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. After the game, Antetokounmpo took to the court to get some free throw shots up as the 76ers’ home court was being cleared and maintenance and media were attending to their post-game tasks. Philadelphia 76ers forward Montrezl Harrell claimed he was doing a post game workout and snatched the basketball away from the Bucks’ star who then went to the other end where technicians were dis-assembling their remote cameras. Antetokounmpo wanted no part of waiting as the workers were mounting a ladder next to the rim and backboard area. Antetokounmpo promptly asked them to move the ladder, but then took it upon himself to do so, tipping the top-heavy 10-foot ladder over only to have it crash to the court. … Not a good look for the former MVP who has struggled with his free throws since his rookie year.

Willets Point, Queens, site of proposed soccer stadium

WILLETS POINT: (Continuing in a New York State of Mind, rather than Boston-themed column) … The City of New York, Queens County and the NYFC soccer club announced plans to build a brand new soccer stadium as part of a Willets Point redevelopment plan. The new stadium, as news reports put it, would be located “directly across the street from the right field foul pole” near CitiField, the home field of the New York Mets.

Please tell me if I’m wrong, but since I first set foot in the old Shea Stadium (1964) to watch the Mets, the area designated for the new stadium and development has been nothing but an auto mechanic shop destination of the worst degree. Oil changes, Mufflers, Tires, Engine re-builds, Transmissions – you name it. Can you imagine what the earth under these shops and quonset huts has endured since the 1960s?

There is zero chance the oil, transmission fluid, and other mechanical waste was properly disposed of during the many years. I wouldn’t walk 100 feet into that zoning nightmare if you gave me $100 a step. At one point, I was told by a very reliable source that the New York Islanders of the NHL looked at the mess before they settled on their current, new site by Belmont Raceway, and guess what the Islanders found?

Disgusting? Un-healthy? Dangerous?

The word is that they’ll clean it all up. Yeah right! It would be similar to cleaning up Deepwater Horizon and the Piper Alpha, Beta and Santa Maria, along with the Gulf War oil spill of 1991 which left a 101 x 41 mile trail of oil in the Persian Gulf. The effort to clean-up in the outer limits of Citi Field started in 2021 when then-NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio participated in the announcement of a clean-up. I’d rather clean-up Chernobyl.

It’s so bad out there, it makes Camp Lejeune look like the beaches of Turks and Caicos.

It’s bad. Real bad. So bad the lawyers tell me I don’t have to write allegedly, but might try a-sledgedly.

It’s really bad out there. How bad?

It’s so bad, if they could remediate all 23 acres of Willets Point, and re-harvest the oil, the price of a gallon of gasoline would drop to 59.9-cents and there’d be enough oil left over to heat the Northwest Territories all year long.

It’s bad.

So bad the restaurants will simply serve salads with Vinegar and patrons will drag their salads along the floor. It’s so bad, an Australian rock band will play every game and hit the stage at Midnight.

It’s so bad, it’s alleged the New York City FC is going to market every season ticket with an oil change, tire rotation and a lube job.

You get the picture. Good luck to the fans of NYFC.

80 FOR BRADY: Every now and then you have to wonder how a film possibly sees the light of day. How did it get funded and produced? This week, “80 for Brady” broke the mold, as it was executive produced by former New England Patriots (current Tampa Bay Bucs) quarterback Tom Brady. The movie is scheduled to be in theatres this February 3rd. While there’s no grace in piling on Brady for his venture to produce a movie with a plot of the “Golden Girls meet Tom Brady,” you can’t help but wonder how bad a year it’s been for TB12 when he went from Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen to Lily Tomlin.

Take a look at the (much too long) trailer and decide for yourself:

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