Fathers and Sons-Sports and Life

By Keith Guernsey

"Fathers & Sons…" is a story of an uncommon love and devotion between fathers and sons.
It is a story of my recovery from two rounds of life-threatening brain surgeries to play on three championship softball teams in two states.
It includes a chapter on the most controversial sports topic of our time; Deflategate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Keith Guernsey
• Release date: Aug 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9788822830074

Keith Guernsey

Keith D. Guernsey is retired and living on Lake Lanier with his lovely wife Susan and his four-footed son Harley (who really is the king of this castle!). He had a 40 year career in sales and sales management with Comcast, Motorola and Cahners Publishing. Susan and I are proud to  announce the birth of our first grandchild, Harrison Anthony "Harry" Guernsey to our son Keith and daughter-in-law Kate.

Book preview

To my lovely wife Susan, and my late great father Gordon, who inspired this book.

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, to my wonderfully supportive family; my wife Susan for her constant support and for always encouraging me to look deeper, beyond the scores and stats! My late parents Gordon and Lucille whose constant  love, and positive reinforcement were invaluable throughout these 64 plus years. And to my son Keith Anthony, my new grandson Harrison Anthony and my lovely daughter-in-law Kate who accompanied me to many sporting events and provided much support. And thanks to my sister Michele and brother-in-law Al and their sons Nicholas,(my godson)  Michael and my niece Alicia for accompanying me on trips to Fenway and providing material for this book.

To Larry, thanks for your support, friendship, and for being my partner on so many trips over the last four decades plus to Fenway; to the Garden (both old and new) and to Foxboro/Schaefer/Sullivan stadium to watch our beloved Pats. Thanks to the other two-thirds of

the triumvirate Harry Novelle and Billy Porter.  Dr.Peter Black for being the best neurosurgeon in the world. Ken at book editing services for crossing all my t’s and doting all my I’s.  Michael McCann,  Mike Wilson,  Alan Milstein and Dr. Robert Sekerka for all their help on Deflategate.  To Bryan Morry of the Pats and the fan relations department of the Bruins for helping with some fact-checking.

To Gil, Jack, Peter D., Spence and Rob for their contributions. To my colleagues at Comcast for understanding and accepting my obsession with all things related to Boston sports; and for engaging in often witty give-and-take banter when it came to us versus them (Boston vs Atlanta/Philadelphia and Buffalo based teams). Thanks to them for helping me stay humble after so many championships in such a short period of time! To my old Lexington friend Andy Marcus for giving me a heads up on my Judge Berman letter. To my friend and former paramour Karen Lorraine Duncan who reminded me of our trip to one of the greatest sporting events ever, the

seventh game of the ’75 World Series (more on this later). To my dear friends Pam and Bill who always come through with great Boston sports themed presents, including one of the best t-shirts ever (more on this later)! To D. Orlando Ledbetter, Jeff Schultz and Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal Constitution for their contributions and for humoring this unabashed Boston homer!

Preface

Many of these stories have already been told in my first book, Confessions of a Beantown Sports Junkie.  If you have read it; thank you. If you have not, I hope you enjoy this updated volume!

This book also includes a chapter on the most controversial sports topic of our time; Deflategate.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1Start of a Long Strange Trip     

Chapter 2 4

Chapter 3        Becoming an Obsession          27

Chapter 4      From Bench to Arm Chair 36

Chapter 5      Take Me Out to the Ball

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Chapter 6          Near to Greatness 67

Chapter 7 Meeting my soul mate 85

Chapter 8 Fathers & Sons 88

Chapter 9 Back in the Game 91

Chapter 10 Retired Arm Chair Quarterback 102

Chapter 11    2014-an Eventful Year 110

Chapter 12    Deflategate 132

Chapter13      Prince Harry Arrives                  145

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Chapter One

Start of a Long Strange Trip

As Tom Terrific (Brady) knelt down on the Alltel Stadium turf (on February 6, 2005) at the end of the Super Bowl XXIX (and while the last nine seconds ticked off the clock), I knew that I had to capture in these pages what a long, strange trip it has been as a devoted Boston sports fan (some would say fanatic!). One of the reasons why I decided to write this book was for the benefit of those too young to remember (and who are naive enough to think this has been and always will be Title Town USA.) As Larry reiterates "

We are spoiled.  Just think...there are a bunch of teenagers and 20 something’s that have only memories of three Super Bowl championships and two more AFC titles. They never had to endure

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the decades of losing that we did to get to this point".

This book is also dedicated to the legions of Boston sports fans who have suffered along with me through four decades of losing (unless one was a Celtics fan now that they have won their 17th title!). As Terry Bradshaw, said to Tom It won’t always be this easy every time. For someone who has just been handed his third World Championship trophy before his 28th birthday, one can easily envision Brady thinking something like, Yeah sure old man; you’re crazy I can do this every year (at least that is what most people like you and I would be thinking).

In this crazy world of pro athletes (Do the names Jose Canseco, Rae Carruth and Allen Iverson ring any bells?) committing crimes and just generally wreaking havoc, the fact

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that Tom Brady is so level headed and grounded is a testament to great parenting (which this author was also very fortunate to have!) and great coaching. And it’s one of the many reasons why he was picked to be Sports Illustrateds’ sportsman of

the year in 2005. He  has won many awards since and will most certainly win many more before he takes his place in Canton!

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Chapter Two-A Dynasty is Born

Back to SB XXIX for a minute. Although this game was played 11 years ago, I remember it like it was yesterday.  One of my fondest memories is that my future breakfast companion, Mr. Rodney Harrison intercepted Donovan McNabb to seal the win.

With three championships in four years, this secured their place in pro football history. It is also is the first time heard the D word (as in dynasty) mentioned in connection with our Patriots.

The fact that dynasty continues to this day unabated is truly astounding in a league that prides itself on parity (free agency/draft/salary cap).

In my opinion, the most remarkable of all the stats and records is their run of consecutive winning seasons.

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As Mom used to say one picture is worth a thousand words so here you go;

Even the most ardent Pats hater would have to admit this is pretty darn amazing! This streak has reached 15 and shows no sign of ending anytime soon (more on this great team later.)

But I digress, and I’ll get back to young Tom and today’s team shortly. But first, I want to take you back to where it all began for me. Four and a half decades ago when Dad took me to Fenway Park

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for what would become an instant love affair with Boston sports teams. My first memory of Fenway was a gargantuan playing for the California Angels with no sleeves (think Charlie Sheen as Rick Wild Thing Vaughn in that baseball classic Major League) and telephone poles for arms named Theodore Bernard Big Klu Kluszewski, and of eating far too many Fenway Franks (I won’t put a number on it since there are family members reading this diatribe; but suffice to say if you are thinking double digits you aren’t too far off base-pun intended.) I don’t remember who won or lost that day but a true love affair had begun!

After my first trip to Fenway, I began to compile a list of largely useless Boston sports trivia. Mom was always amazed that at a very young age I could remember the original seating capacity of the old Garden