Back to the Sportin' Life in the Bucket

4-2  BUT WHO IS COUNTING ?

I AM!

I must confess I watched the Patriots play last night and I saw two great Quarterbacks --BRADY AND MAHOMES.
Also those boys from Kansas City-- Hill and two others who can really catch and run with great speed.

I know the Patriots won, but I also  know their Mahomes has only started in a few games. He is a young rookie with a great arm.

 Maybe Tom looked across the playing field and saw himself 19 years ago. It was there for all to see.  The  youth, the speed, and the scrappiness of the KC team could not finally overcome the experience, the persistence and the formidable will of the Patriots when Edelman and Gronk and White and Hogan and Michel  are on the  field.  

They eked out a win and the Football Gods smiled on them, but they are fickle Gods. The boys from Kansas are frolicking in the fields of those Gods, and they will catch their eyes.

Out of the Bucket and Into the Superbowl

I need a new roof on the house that my mother and my aunt bought in 1968. They put one on in the 80s but the fact of a newly painted ceiling peeling plaster in the front room alerted me to problems on the roof. So I called three roofers and yesterday I signed with one. Since he had a Patriot's jacket on and I was looking forward to the Pats-Dolphin game that night, we started to talk about football. Turns out that he had tickets to the Thursday Night game. We started to speculate about the Super Bowl and suddenly a name came back to me from 60 years ago. Gerry Philbin. I asked the roofer if he had heard of Philbin--he said no. And for a few minutes I told him the few facts that I could recall about Philbin's career. Mostly I remembered him vividly as my classmate at Saint Joseph's School on Walcott Street. After the roofer left, I checked with Google to make sure that I had not just made Gerry up--but NO. My memory is still accurate and I am amazed when living back here in Pawtucket has brought back to my mind. IN this the year of the 50th SUPERBOWL we might remember and maybe give some attention to the life and career of Gerald Philbin. He played for the Jets and he went to the THIRD SUPERBOWL. IN the old articles that surfaced when I Googled him he is described repeatedly as "A ferocious rusher."