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A Thanksgiving Day Reflection on Football and Futbol

A Thanksgiving Day Reflection on Football and Futbol

"Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."   - Joe Thiesmann           

Futbol . . . The beautiful game.  -Pele

I love football.  Just ask my wife how much time I spend watching it on tv.  So I won't argue if you want to extol the virtues of American style football on its own merits but, still, soccer is clearly a better game.  Football, to me, is like a crochety old friend who you love despite his obvious faults.  I say this as someone who knows both games as a fan and a participant, as a varsity football player in high school, and as a licensed soccer coach and certified referee in my middle age.

Carrying the ball for LHS vs. D.Y., 1961.

           I've been a football fan ever since the seventh grade when I discovered I was faster than most other kids, outrunning them to avoid getting beat up, and I could play the game as a running back.  I played a lot of pick-up games in junior high school, and first played organized football on the freshman team at the old Lawrence High School in Falmouth.

         My family moved to Falmouth from Rockland in August 1958.  Rockland then, like all the other towns in the South Shore area between Quincy and Brockton, was a place where soccer was the game they played back in Ireland or Italy.  My, how things have changed over the past forty years or so. 

         Back then, however,  in Falmouth and most other towns on the Cape and along the South Coast, from Fall River to P'town, high school soccer was alive and kicking.  So my first introduction to the game of soccer came in 9^th grade gym class in my first week at LHS.

        Coach Earl Mills, had us playing free-for-all soccer in what must have been a 20 on 20 game, and a few of us, Air Force kids from the South relocated to Otis as well as me, had never kicked a soccer ball before in our lives.  One of the Air Force kids and I went for a loose ball ball and I whiffed, getting him squarely in the family jewels.  He came up swinging and Coach Mills let us go at it for a minute or so, barely concealing his amusement, and then broke us up.  He made us run a lap around the field and then shake hands.  That's how they used to handle "boys being boys" back in those days.

        After class, someone told me that freshman football tryouts were that afternoon, and that's when my official football career began.  I played all four years, starting at fullback my senior year, at age 16, during the 1961 season.  We were undefeated that year going into the Turkey Day game with Barnstable, which we lost 20-6.  I really can't recall the score of any other game we played that year. 

            I loved playing football, more than most of my friends did.   I liked the hitting especially, and I got to play a lot in high school, primarily on offense as a blocking back.  Occasionally, I got to carry the ball as in the photo above, but usually I led the play for running backs Buddy Ferreira and Jack DeMello who started as a sophomore. 

            To get an idea how long ago that was in football time, consider the fact that we wore leather helmets on the LHS freshman team  A single nylon bar was bolted  across the front to keep your face from being smashed too badly into the turf.

            Back then, the New York Football Giants were the only NFL team in the entire North East, so my buddies and I would all sit around on fall Sunday afternoons watching Charlie Connerly, and then Y.A. Tittle, lead the Giants against the Browns, the Lions, the 49'ers, the Rams, the Bears, the St. Louis Cardinals and the upstart Colts.  To this day, I still refer to the Colts sometimes as Baltimore.

          As for soccer, I never played it again after that gym class.  As a two sport athlete in high school, football and track, I didn't have to take gym again, and I didn't.  LHS had a good soccer team, but I didn't know a thing about the game, and I really wasn't interested. It's too bad, because when you know the game of soccer, you can't help but appreciate it for its athleticism, for its competitiveness, for its intelligence and, above all, for its individualism.   As Pele remarked, it's truly "the beautiful game."

          Individualism is a big part of the difference between soccer and American football.  Soccer is a players' game, with all major game decisions being made by the players on the fly, while American football is a coaches' game, with coaches increasingly micromanaging every aspect of the game, especially as you go up into elite college programs and the NFL.

          Both soccer and American football have star players, but only American football has legendary coaches on the order of Knute Rockne, Woody Hayes, Bill Walsh or Bill Belichick. Coaches can achieve such prominence because the game of football is hierarchical and highly structured as opposed to the more egalitarian and very fluid game of soccer.  Some of them even get called "genius," but Joe Montana knew that really wasn't so.

           It is this aspect of American football that makes it a perfect expression of American corporate culture, especially NFL football, far more so today than when I began following the Giants in 1958.  A football game is much more of a production than a soccer game, which is what makes it so costly at higher levels.  I was saddened recently to read that Northeastern is cancelling its football program, as B.U. did several years ago.  I was also saddened to read that the traditional Thanksgiving Day game between Nantucket and the Vineyard for the Island Cup was also cancelled this year.

           I remain a loyal fan of the New England Patriots as well as the Falmouth High School football team.  I watch the Pats on television, and I get to several Falmouth home games every fall, but I've missed the Turkey Day game for the past several years because we travel to Maryland to spend the holiday with my wife's sister and her family.  I need that kind of fan interest to really enjoy watching football today.  Without it, I'd much rather watch a soccer a game between two teams I don't follow than between two football teams I don't follow. 

          Soccer is just a better game to watch, unless you've got a tiny little attention span and need to have the play stopped for 30 seconds or so after every 10 second play, and then have professional analysts explain what you just saw, in order to follow the game.  Try timing the  plays in an NFL football game while the clock is running, and you'll get maybe 20 minutes of an hour with the ball actually in play.  This contrasts markedly with soccer where the ball is always in play while the clock is running for an hour and a half, except for injury timeouts, and then the time lost is added at the end as stoppage time.

           Most Americans who feel compelled to disparage soccer, are either ignorant of the game, bigoted and xenophobic against anything not "American," or both.  I don't mean average football fans who just don't care about soccer, but those "real American" types like WEEI's Fred Smerlas who feel compelled to put soccer down by saying stupid things like there's no scoring in soccer, or soccer is for sissies, et cetera, proving only their own ignorance and insecurity.

           Yes, most soccer games are low scoring, often ending at 1-0, 2-1 or the like.  Does that mean the game is "boring" as the yahoos claim?  Perhaps so, for people who can't comprehend what's going on in the game, the offensive buildups and the defensive shutdowns.   I wonder how many of those same guys are NHL fans and get all worked up about what a great game the Bruins played last night, winning 2-1.  A 2-1 win is low scoring whether you're watching soccer or hockey. Duh!  Then, they'll talk about their favorite football team playing a great game when they beat someone 14-0, never mind that in terms of real scoring that's only 2-0 -basically a soccer score. 

         As for being "sissies," I'd just love to see a typical aged out football player try to stay on the field with some good older soccer players.  A former lineman like Smerlas wouldn't have a chance, because soccer players are better all-around athletes, and they have developed a set of skills that the average football player just doesn't have, foot skills, head skills and body skills.  How many times have you seen a 300 lb. NFL lineman have to leave the field for a breather after making two or three plays in a game? When have you ever seen a soccer player do that?

          I've had the pleasure of coaching several youth soccer players who later played high school and college football, and I'm proud of them, but I'm not aware of any Pop Warner football players in my town who have managed to play competitive organized soccer as they got older.  The basic truth about football is you need to be big or fast, or both, and if you are, the coach will be able to teach you all the skills you need in a very short time compared to the time it takes to develop soccer skills.  If you're not big or fast, you won't get to play competitive football, no matter how good a skill set you have unless you can pass accurately, or can punt or kick field goals, as many former soccer players have done in the NFL.

         There's lots of contact in soccer, too, and the players don't have ten pounds of pads to protect them like football players do.  Sure, some soccer players exaggerate injury in order to draw a foul, but so do wide receivers in the NFL who exaggerate wildly when a defensive back breathes on them too closely.  So do basketball players when they get touched while shooting.  The reality is, as in football, basketball and hockey, you can't play soccer if you're afraid of contact -like Tony Eason was, for example.

          American football is orchestral music, while soccer is jazz.  Every player on a football team has a specific, limited role on each individual play, and is directed what to do by the coach as maestro, while soccer players have general areas of responsibility but much greater freedom to riff as individuals, with the coach only setting the tempo.  Only a few players on a football team get to score usually, because of limiting rules that define eligible receivers and positional requirements. Most players on an American football team never even get to handle the ball, but every player on a soccer team gets to play the ball and any player can score, even the goal keeper.

           Like I said, the "real Americans" who disparage soccer are basically ignorant. Maybe they don't understand the game because it's too fluid and they've got ADD or something. Still, that's not a reason to disparage the game, and I'm sure that many who do so act out of pure xenophobia.  Hispanics play soccer, the French play soccer, the Portuguese play soccer, the Italians play soccer, but Americans have only recently begun to be competitive on the international level.

          Meanwhile, the NFL has been trying to open "markets" in Europe, and there is a European football league.  Still, it won't catch on there even as much as soccer has caught on here. That's not because of European xenophobia, but simply because soccer is, objectively, a better game to watch than American football

          So, it was with regret that I had to miss the annual showdown between Falmouth and Barnstable again this year.  I really enjoy going to those games to see football in its purest amateur expression, no matter who wins.  Instead, I was planted in front of the television set Thursday afternoon, and if the tryptophan in the turkey didn't put me to sleep, Detroit vs. Green Bay surely did.  I was looking forward to the Giants at Denver in the evening, my old team against one of my NFL bêtes noir, so I at least had a rooting interest for one of the Thanksgiving Day games -that, plus a Giant's win would have helped the Patriots' home field advantage in the playoffs if Denver were to win its division.

            I was disappointed in the outcome of the game, but even more by the fact that it wasn't even a good game, with the Big Blue just mailing it in.  It was a relatively high scoring game, 26-6, with Denver winning big at home.  That's really something like 3.5 to 1 when you count the actual scores, counting the Giants' two field goals as half a score each.  Still, despite the Broncos scoring a lot of points, the game itself was boring due to the Giants ineptitude. 

           A close, competitive 2-1 soccer game would have been far more interesting to watch, even if it came down to a shootout to break a 1-1 tie.  In the NFL, a tie game is often decided in sudden death overtime on a field goal.  Whoopie!  That's really scintillating to see a former soccer player put the ball through two stationary uprights from 40 or 50 yards out, isn't it?  Meanwhile, a tie soccer game is decided by having good shooters go one-on-one with the goal keeper who, unlike the uprights in football, can move left or right and up or down to stop the shot.

          Like I said, objectively, soccer is a better game to watch than American style football.   Still, there's a lot to be said for subjectivity in sports, unlike politics in service of the common good, which is why I'll be glued to the tv set tonight watching the Patriots play the Saints in New Orleans.  I love football, but I like watching soccer even more. 

Note That God Rested On Sunday

Breaking News: Notre Dame Football Fires Former Patriot Coordinator Charlie Weis!!

Simply put, the NFL competes with Christianity.

If they get the Euros and especially the Asians playing American football, it's only a matter of time before the NFL is powerful enough to be able to negotiate with the Vatican and perhaps purchase Sunday exclusively.Church attendance has been dropping since, say, Copernicus. The Vatican needs to shake things up a bit. A move to midweek evenings may be their best interest.

I'd rather be competing with CSI: Vermont  or whatever is on Wednesday nights than tangle with the NFL....especially if they start going 18 week seasons instead of 16. That may not seem like much to you or I, but it's like an extra 4% of the year. You can't laugh off that kind of money when you have all those little boys suing you.

A movement of Mass to Wednesday probably won't happen in my lifetime, but I said that about a black President, too. If they ever get an American Pope, bet on this happening. Properly executed, it may even allow the Catholics to seize power back from the Protestants.

I was drafted Catholic, ended up going free agent... but I'd go back to Catholicism, or maybe even embrace that Protestant stuff if one of their Popes showed the connectedness to his/her flock that made this sort of action possible.

Also....

Our priest when I was a child was very much into the Patriots, and his 11:30 AM Mass sermons were generally quite hurried. "Faddasonholyghostamengoinpeace."

Thank you for your time... back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Sea Turtles Arrive for Thanksgiving

I can’t remember a Thanksgivings where I didn’t have sea turtle. I thought this year would be the exception. But once again, Mother Nature came through and served up a big bunch of sea turtles, 16 in all.
 
Starting on Wednesday through mid afternoon on Saturday, 11 live Kemp’s ridleys and 5 dead ones washed in on the bayside from Bourne to Dennis. But by the end of the day Sunday, 36 sea turtles, including 3 green sea turtles, as well as 33 ridleys, had washed in from Sandy Neck in Barnstable to Wellfleet Harbor. I was fortunate to find 3 on Saturday night and one more on Sunday morning.

It has been the strangest season ever for standings with virtually none on Cape Cod until Wednesday. We had strandings in Quincy, Hull, Sagamore Beach and Scussett before ridleys started to show up in Sandwich and Sandy Neck.

Also, most of the ridleys where covered in algae, several with huge seaweed covers, like they went to sleep in late September and grew a plant blanket only to be woken by a late November gale and blown ashore.

We recovered two of the smallest ridleys, 18.7 cm and 19.8 cm, ever. Heck, we have snapping turtles way bigger than those two, yet like all ridleys, they were probably born on an eastern Gulf of Mexico beach, Rancho Nuevo, Mexico or maybe even in the Padre Island National Seashore.

Now they get picked up by MAS volunteers, whisked up to NEAq and eventually released after being fed all winter.

Bob Prescott

Vote early and often

The Primary is Tuesday, December 8
Every good citizen should take the time to vote

By Walter Brooks

Many years ago when the redoubtable Bill Breisky was still the Editor of The Cape Cod Times, I happened to be talking to him around this time of year, and I mentioned that my wife and I were about to leave for a month-long tour of China.

He asked me if we had voted as an absentee voters yet, and I replied that we hadn't.

Bill then read me the riot act about my responsibility as a citizen.

Needless to say we took the time to go to the Town Hall and make out our absentee ballots before we left.

Bill Breisky had that effect on both friends and readers alike.

I never forgot Bill's admonition, and while I doubt very much I'm in his league as an Editor, very few are, I still want to urge you to follow his advice and vote next Tuesday or get an absentee ballot if you will be away.

Bad politicians are elected by good people who don't vote.

Senator Kirk is trying to stop Cape Wind!

Help us educate our temporary, junior senator

Senator Paul Kirk, temporarily filling the seat held by the late Edward M. Kennedy, recently sent a letter to President Obama asking him to delay any decision on the Cape Wind project. He suggests that this is because of the ongoing Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force work related to developing a National Policy to manage and guide the development in our oceans, coastal waters and Great Lakes.

In the letter he uses language that we have heard re-iterated by the opponents time and time again that is rooted in mis-information. He says that the private developer obtained a "no bid" lease to develop the project. In the discussion on the Senate floor in August 2005, leading to the enactment of the Energy Policy Act it was voted to allow the current projects under review - the Cape Wind and LIPA projects - to continue being reviewed under the Savings Provision.

It was voted on by Congress to allow the two projects to continue moving through the regulatory channels and yes - not have to go through a bidding process.

Kirk also stated that "rushing to complete Interior's review of the Cape Wind proposal" would "establish two different set of rules for offshore renewable energy development." There is only one set of rules and Cape Wind has followed them and all the other offshore wind projects will have to follow them as well.

Please call Senator Kirk and tell him that Congress passed a law in August 2005 that he is calling on to change by the President and that 86% of MA residents support Cape Wind and so do you!

• D.C Office: 202-224-4543
  
• Boston Office: 617-565-3170 and 877-472-9014

You can also send the Senator an email. Voice your support for clean, renewable energy and let the Senator know we support Cape Wind!

Thank you for taking action,

Barbara Hill, Executive Director, Clean Power Now.

Conservative Communism!!

O

hhh boy Gene Fama... who you can find on Facebook  http://www.facebook.com/nedso#/genefama?ref=mf

 as well as at http://lambiek.net/artists/f/fama_gene.htm  You'll see an excerpt from his masterpice SQUIRREL JUICE. http://www.fama.net/  is his 'toon site....

Gene, one of my old Underground Cartoonist buddies has become an Investment Seminar neovaudevillian and 98% of his Facebook posts involve the latest 'thinking' within the Box of neoReaganism. 

Upon pointing out that the Gipper was no longer with us, during a long exchange yesterday afternoon, his son leaped into the argument noting that my observation was invalid due to the resemblance in his opinion of my hairdo to that of a 1960s neovaudevillian Ukelele performer.  This led to their next contention that the Nazis were Leftists. 

It occurred to me that I'd only ever heard this contention since the election of Obama.  I traced this meme, a favorite Glenn Beck talkingpoint, back to Jan. 2008's book LIBERAL FASCISM by Jonah Goldberg.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah_Goldberg

This morning's googling confirms that JG is indeed the son of Lucianne'Lewinsky Scandal'Goldberg, the mentor of Matt Drudge, and led to the factoid that Lucianne is an Episcopalian! 

So... to close the loop on this... my friend is a sort of Investment Counsellor and he's referencing a fellow named 'Jonah Goldberg'.  In Appalachian Scots-Irish parlance a 'Jonah' is a Bringer Of Bad Fortune, and in High Old German/Yiddish a 'Goldberg' is a Mountain Of Wealth.  This brings to mind the old joke, "How did you become a Billionaire?" "Well, Daddy left me Two Billion and I lost Half of It."  ... Which might be a good definition of Conservative Communism.

Deck the Hall with Mark McGwire?

The 2010 ballot for the baseball Hall of Fame was released last week, and in among the names of those listed because the rules say they have to be (Kevin Appier, Todd Zeile) is one that is especially controversial: Mark McGwire.

This is the fourth year the former Oakland and St. Louis slugger (and current Cardinal hitting coach) appears on the ballot, and following a season during which good guys like Andy Pettitte and David Ortiz were linked to performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), it will be interesting to see how McGwire - among the first to be painted by the PED brush but also regarded as a good guy - fares this time around.

See the rest of this article on Examiner.com!

Our plundering ancestors; Tribe signs with Malaysian Casino group; Grenade closes Bob Crowell Road; Dennis mad at Barnacle Motel; Sandwich Assistant Superintendent laid off; Equal funding for all hospitals; Medical marijuana money-maker

TODAY's quote: "Some of the best things we took away with us, but the houses we left standing."
- Miles Standish, Truro, November 1620.
"This state needs jobs, and we think medical marijuana can stimulate the state economy with hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars." - Nick Tennant

Wampanoag cut ties with casino investors
Now in negotiations with Malaysian firm

The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe is dissolving its partnership with two investors to develop a Middleborough casino and making a new start with an international investment group that boasts a strong track record for building successful gambling resorts.

The 500-acre target site in Middleborough will be turned over to the tribe under the terms of the breakup

New investors could put the project on steadier footing at a time when gaming is likely to get its most favorable airing yet on Beacon Hill early next year. But the tribe faces a number of obstacles, including the possibility that the state Legislature may legalize expanded gambling next spring, giving locations like Suffolk Downs a jump on Middleborough.

Wampanoag Tribal Council vice chairman Aaron Tobey said yesterday that investors Sol Kerzner and Len Wolman have agreed in principle to bow out of the project. The pair had been backing the tribe for more than two years, after striking an agreement with former Tribal Council chairman Glenn Marshall. Marshall was convicted of fraud and embezzlement and is currently serving a 3 1/2-year prison term... Globe.
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WWII grenade closes Dennis PD and Bob Crowell Road Sunday

Just before 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 29, a Dennis resident brought a WWII hand grenade to the Dennis Police Department. She left the grenade, a relative's Thanksgiving gift, in a box on the ground next to her car... Register.

W. Dennis mad at Barnacle Motel

Residents of Janet Road in West Dennis are fed up - and angry. "I can't even go outside to rake leaves without running into my house and locking all my doors," said one resident, a recent widow... Register.

Assistant Superintendent a budget casualty

Sandwich School Committee Vice Chairman Shaun P. Cahill confirmed this week that Assistant Superintendent Maxine Minkoff had been laid off as a cost-saving measure for the cash strapped district. Ms. Minkoff, who was hired in May, was brought on at a salary of $125,000 per year...

Earlier in the month, Dr. Johnson said that district would need to make mid-year reductions to its budget when faced with several unanticipated costs totaling more than $200,000. The district will need to pay $185,000 to place two special-needs students who recently moved to town in out-of-district programs and $18,000 to hire back a special education secretary as ordered by the findings of an arbitration hearing... Sandwich Enterprise.
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Our savage ancestors plundering graves in Truro

This plaque commemorates where 16 pilgrims plundered the graves of local natives and sold their supply of corn.

When Miles Standish and his little band were reconnoitering around Truro (in November, 1620), they found some corn to which they helped themselves generously. When it was gone, they returned for more, and on the second trip they dug up two graves. Slightly under the ground they found a mat, and under it was a bow. Beneath the bow was another mat, and under that were bowls, trays and dishes. Beneath the third mat there were two bundles. They unwrapped the first, and found that it contained a quantity of red embalming powder and the skull and bones of a man. In the second bundle was the skeleton of a little child, with a number of small bracelets of fine white beads and a little bow and arrow. They took away with them "sundry of the prettiest things," and "covered up the corpses."

Not far away were two houses. These they entered, and "some of the best things we took away with us, but the houses we left standing"... Provincetown Banner.
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Equal funding for all hospitals
Dr. Richard F. Salluzzo writes Globe Op-Ed

Rosane mendes of Mashpee suffers from a daunting mix of chronic conditions including diabetes, high blood pressure, anemia, neuropathy, and fibromyalgia. Last fall doctors discovered many of her symptoms were caused by her spleen, which was destroying platelets and threatening her life. Dr. David Lovett, an oncologist at Cape Cod Hospital, scheduled an emergency splenectomy. A year later, Mendes says, "I am alive thanks to Dr. Lovett."

Caring for patients with complex medical needs and limited access to care is part of Cape Cod Hospital's mission. While many think of the Cape as a high-priced vacation destination, it also has a large population of immigrants and the elderly. These patients rely on Medicare, Medicaid (the state's MassHealth program), and other government programs to pay for their treatment, but the programs reimburse at less than full cost - in the case of Medicaid just 64 cents on the dollar... Globe.
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At This School, It’s Marijuana in Every Class

At most colleges, marijuana is very much an extracurricular matter. But at Med Grow Cannabis College, marijuana is the curriculum: the history, the horticulture and the legal how-to’s of Michigan’s new medical marijuana program. “This state needs jobs, and we think medical marijuana can stimulate the state economy with hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars,” said Nick Tennant, the 24-year-old founder of the college, which is actually a burgeoning business (no baccalaureates here) operating from a few bare-bones rooms in a Detroit suburb.

The six-week, $485 primer on medical marijuana is a cross between an agricultural extension class covering the growing cycle, nutrients and light requirements (“It’s harvest time when half the trichomes have turned amber and half are white”) and a gathering of serious potheads.. NY Times.

MWALIM Brings SOUL to Cape Cod

YARMOUTH - On Thursday, December 3, 2009 @ 7PM, Liberation Music - MGM Recording Artist, Mwalim will be performing his blend of soul-funk-jazz at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod, 307 Old Main Street, South Yarmouth, MA. Tickets are $12 ($10 for CCCC Members). Mwalim will have copies of his new CD "The Liberation Sessions: Soul of the City;" the "Sketches of a Neighborhood" 2008 CD by the Bass Mint Bros (both on the Liberation Music label); and his book A Mixed Medicine Bag (Talking Drum Press, 2007).

Currently, DEM BIG GIRLS is the debut single from the new CD, which has been receiving positive attention from club DJs. The web release of the song's video on youtube, DEM BIG GIRLS is quickly gaining attention across the web.

 THE LIBERATION SESSIONS: Soul of the City featuring compositions, collaborations and remixes by Mwalim with an A-List of guest artists, including Amaris, Phillip Aaron, Tah Phrum Duh Bush, The Bass Mint Bros, Kalayana, Tantra, Robert Taylor, Jr., and Tem Blessed.

The Liberation Sessions is a funky, groovy soulful journey into sound. From the fertile musical imagination of one of today's most talented soul artists and producers, the album/ CD is built around the concept of a fictional radio show, "The Liberation Sessions" on the equally fictional radio station, WBAR-FM. Mwalim explains, "I grew up listening to radio stations like WBLS and Kiss-FM in New York and remember the Friday night shows featuring mix shows, dance music and so forth. I wanted to try to capture that eclectic flavor on this album, which is why I worked with a range of artists... soul, hip-hop, acid jazz, spoken-word... a little something for everybody." Chock full of funky, head bobbing music and wonderful skits.

The digital version of THE LIBERATION SESSIONS: Soul of the City by Mwalim is available!!! You can hear and purchase digital download copies of the CD and it's singles on iTunes, eMusic, Raphsody and amazon.com.

Doors open at the Cape Cod Cultural Center at 6:30 PM for a 7PM Showtime. The Cultural Center of Cape Cod is located at 307 Old Main Street in Yarmouth, MA. For more information, Call (508) 394-7100.

Below is a clip of one of Mwalim's performances in "Piano Tricks" filmed live at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, MA.

Below is a clip of Mwalim performing his "Medicine Clown #4 Poem"

Look, Listen & Give Thanks

I wrote this column a year ago after my friend Dave shared his wonderful and heartwarming story about how his Falmouth had made such a difference in changing his life.  Dave, and so many Falmouthites like him that make our community such a special place to live, is one of the primary reasons I consider it a privilege to write this column. Last week, when recognizing the efforts of another cherished Falmouthite, I mistakenly noted that she had passed when she is still very much among us.  My thoughts and prayers, and certainly my apologies, are extended to Mary Lou Smith and her family. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of Falmouth.  Here is Dave's story:   

As we bask in the wonderful memories (and delicious leftovers) of yesterday's celebration of that day nearly 400 years ago when near strangers celebrated their thanks together, we should all take time to ponder that for which we are grateful.  You see, I have come to believe that one of the things that allows me to remain grateful - full of thanks on this Thanksgiving Day - is remembering and recounting stories about this community - our community - that keep me full of gratitude.  I'd like to share one with you that was shared with me recently.  It demonstrates my appreciation for Falmouth on this most thankful of days.

Fran was a hard working mom with four great kids ranging in age from 18 to 7.  She and her husband had a beautiful house here in Falmouth, and had what appeared to be a storybook small town life. On a November day not unlike today, her husband left for work and never came home.  He had a heart that knew few bounds when meeting others, but that could beat no longer.  Fran, at 36, was left alone and in shock, wondering how she would care for her kids, never mind how to manage a Thanksgiving dinner for them.  Without a second thought, her neighbor Sue, a summer resident but year-round friend, opened her home in Connecticut to Fran and her family.  That Thanksgiving and the Christmas that followed were but the first of countless kind and selfless acts from Fran's Falmouth neighbors that would help keep the family together during such a devastating time.  Make no mistake, the love, faith, and sometimes sheer will of Fran to stabilize her kids' lives and surround them with her boundless love were the glue that kept the family intact, but it was the love and support of neighbors, linked by geography as Falmouthites but connected by an unbreakable sense of community, that helped the family thrive.  And thrive they did.  Buoyed by random acts of kindness ranging from free care from a local Orthodontist to visits to the house from Boy Scout leaders, to the watchful eye of caring teachers at Falmouth High, Fran's kids grew up as good kids - and became good citizens - with much having been given by the Falmouth community.

Falmouth's kindness, though, was not yet done with this family.  A generation later, Fran's son Dave showed up, as he did most days, on her doorstep for Thanksgiving unstable on his feet, the result of that day's escape in a bottle that had become his only trusted friend and at the same time his mortal enemy. Dave lost his footing as he entered Fran's house for that day of thanks, resulting in a couple of broken ribs, a shattered ego, and a broken man.  He needed help; his family and his Falmouth were there.  Dave's journey continued, and he go the help he needed - from a new found faith and a new set of Falmouth friends who joined together in fellowship - but there he was, the same age as his dad was at his demise, sober but jobless and penniless, contemplating how he would take care of his wife and kids, never mind Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

Like neighbors and friends had more than twenty years before, Falmouthites filled up Dave's fridge and a month later his Christmas tree in a selfless display of neighborly love.  This time, the Falmouth Service Center and its dedicated volunteers played a part as well - and helped out with regular supplies of food and advice on keeping Dave's new way of life part of his future. 

Yesterday, Fran, Dave, and all of their family, including a roomful of grandchildren, celebrated America's day of thanks - and they did it together as a family and together here in Falmouth.

When Dave recounted this heartfelt story to me I realized, as I wiped a tear from my cheek, that similar stories are all around this community - if you look and listen.  So look, listen and give thanks for this day and this town - for our community - our Falmouth.

This column is reprinted from the Falmouth Enterprise.