Spread the Word Baby, Omar Back

It's been quite some time since my last post, and a whole lot has changed. I went from living on a couch in Battery Park City to a air mattress, then futon in Harlem, and now have a crib in the East Village. Unemployed to intern to full time employee. Cheering for Durant at the NBA Draft to Felix in the Bronx to the Seahawks in Green Bay. Added a few Facebook interests (cheese, Kenny Mayne hosting SportsCenter), found a few new bars to frequent (Lucy's, Mudville 9), got hooked on a few TV shows (The Wire, Lost). I missed over half of 2007 here in Cyberspace. I guess that's what happens when you get a job.

Despite my job, I still managed to get out and experience one of my favorite things in life: Live sporting events. Here's a rundown of what I've been up to:

• NBA Draft, Madison Square Garden: Sporting my Chris Wilcox t-shirt, I was in the front row of the back section of the MSG WaMu Theater, and was officially the first Seattle Supersonics fan in the world to shake the hands of Kevin Durant and Jeff Green. I also gave props to fellow Washingtonians Spencer Hawes and Rodney Stuckey. Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.
• Yankees/Angels, Yankee Stadium: When a few of my buddies from Boston came to town and we had extra tickets to a Yankees game, naturally we all put on Red Sox gear and made a trek out to the Bronx. One of us had a few too many beverages beforehand and nearly instigated a riot, as the entire stadium booed us and tried to get us kicked out. It was arguably worse than it would have been had the Yankees actually been playing the Sox. Remind me not to do that again. I'm not even a Sox fan.
  
• Yankees/Devil Rays, Yankee Stadium: On a nice Friday night in July, I got to see the Yankees get crushed by Tampa 14-4. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.
  
• Yankees/Mariners, Yankee Stadium: I got to see King Felix pitch for the first time in my life, and he delivered: 7 innings, 1 run, 5K in a 7-1 Mariners victory including an Ichiro! home run. The hopped on the subway to go to...
  
• US Open, Queens: Roger Federer defeating Feliciano Lopez, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4. We got hooked up with incredible seats. What a day of sports.
• BC/FSU, Chestnut Hill, MA: The beginning of the end for BC Football, this is when the wheels came off. I should have learned my lesson and not attended any other games.
• BC/Maryland, College Park, MD: If the wheels came off against FSU, the whole thing caught fire and burned to the ground at Maryland. Not even my Jesus piece could help us.
• Sonics/Knicks, Manhattan: Kevin Durant's first trip to the Mecca, and boy did he impress. Led the Sonics to a 117-110 victory with 30 points, including key buckets down the stretch and a thunderous jam right on David Lee. I loved it. Spike Lee would disagree.
• Blazers/76ers, Philly: After meeting Greg Oden and spending a day with reporters demoing College Hoops 2K8 (I love my job), we posted up 7 rows back on the baseline for the Blazers/Sixers game. I was excited to see my boy Brandon Roy play, and by halftime the game was an embarrassment: 45-27, advantage Portland. But the Sixers came out hot in the 3rd quarter and eventually completed the improbable comeback, winning the game by 4 points. It was the first time I had ever seen Louis Williams play. I added him to my fantasy team the next day. The kid is going to be good.
  
• Mavericks/Jazz, Salt Lake City: After I missed my connection in SLC back to NYC from Sun Valley, I rang up my one friend from Mormon Country and he had a spare ticket to the game. I have honestly never seen an NBA crowd quite like Utah--every single person was engaged, the place got LOUD, and everyone stayed until the finish. Deron Williams is going to go down in history as a great point guard. Mark my words.
• Seahawks/Packers, Frozen Tundra, Wisconsin: This trip truly deserves its own post, but I'm not sure that'll happen or not. The abbreviated story: 14.5 hour drive from NYC to God's Country, freezing weather, snowflakes as big as softballs, lots and lots of cheese, and the best experience you could ever have while watching your favorite team lose a playoff game on the road. Simply amazing. Until that 14.5 hour drive home.
• Clippers/Knicks, Manhattan: Typical Knicks game, they stayed in it for nearly 4 quarters before letting the game slip away with 3 minutes left. It was great seeing David Lee dunk on Chris Kaman, exclaiming "That was out of this world!" after a Sam Cassell drive, and discussing how he was an "All-Universe" guard, representing Mars.

The main staple of The Roundup has been sports, especially attending games live. Doing so is one of the things in life that I truly value. Sure, I grew up watching Michael Jordan on NBA on NBC, but I'll never be able to tell my kids that I saw him in person. But over the last 7or 8 months, I've added some good new ones to my list. Crawford, Felix, Federer, Ryan, Durant, Green, Roy, Igoudala, Louis, Dirk, Deron, Favre... and of course, the only extra terrestrial playing professional sports, Sam Cassell.

BC Reunion Weekend

This weekend, I made my triumphant return to Boston to see the crew, the campus, and the football team. It had the potential to be a disaster from the start. Why? Three words: Fung Wah bus. To save money, Liz and I took the "Chinatown express" on Thursday. Some of you may be able to recall me saying things such as "I will never take the Fung Wah," in the past. But in the past, I didn't equate $25 (the amount I saved by traveling Fung Wah over Greyhound this weekend) to four meals . But I had reason to be skeptical of taking the FungWah, like the multiple articles I read during my four years at BC in the Herald or the Globe about buses breaking down, getting in accidents, or even catching fire. Or, sophomore year when Joe, Rob, Amish, Chris, and I drove to Jersey for the BC/Rutgers football game, and while traveling around 80mph, had a Fung Wah scream by us on the right. This particular instance, coupled with the popular Boston Chinese take-out restaurant Lucky Wah, has led me to the conclusion that "Wah" directly translates to "fast" or "express." What else would a bus service and a take-out place have in common other than speed? "It could mean 'unsafe' or 'harmful,'" Fell noted, on our return trip to New York on Sunday.

Arriving in Boston in the afternoon, I headed into campus to see some of the fellas and lose a couple games of NHL Hitz (a great throwback memory to the days of Joey, T-Bone, Robbie, and Mac). After a few hours at Roggies (an essential stop) and some sushi from Sapporo, I hopped on the T and went out to Somerville for a night of "drinkin' beehs with the smaht kids at some Hahvahd bahs" with Ethan. After a few ogre-sized Hoegaarden beers and a few other imports, Ethan and I headed back to his mansion for some drunken foosball. I would like to note that I don't remember how many games Ethan and I played, but I did win one game.

On Friday, after watching Good Will Hunting and a movie I probably shouldn't disclose with Ethan, I went to another mansion, this time the one that is home to Reed, Finch, Galligan, and his boy from home, Jeff. Friday night quickly turned into a shitshow, as noted in the 20th edition of Monday Mornings With Levy. Beirut, an 80's power hour, a few scattered half-pints of whiskey, and a solid group of friends eventually made it downtown to Faneuil Hall and our favorite dive joint, Dockside. Having most the crew back together was great, and it was a wonderful night.

Saturday, after taking a field trip to my storage unit to pick up some winter clothes to bring back to New York, it was time to tailgate the much anticipated match up between Duke and Boston College. Starting off in Ignacio was a good throwback to last year. Robbie and I then moved down to the Mod Lot for the Meehan tailgate, which included delicious seafood dip and a Conorburger. After a reunion with Frank Albano and a few of the mushes, I decided it was time to go to the infamous Galligan tailgate, and cut through the Mods. Little did I know, it would take me nearly an hour to make it through the Mods, as I ran into a ton of people I hadn't seen in months. The Galligan tailgate was as great as always, with Marty tossing me a keg as soon as I got there.

The game itself was pretty boring. I harassed the band to "play song 16" throughout the game. About half the times I asked, one of the band members would say "do you even know what song 16 is?" Of course I know what song 16 is. And I have no problem with requesting a marching band to play Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone." They good thing was, they actually played it for me in the 4th quarter after I had spent the entire game yelling at them to do it. Unfortunately, I was otherwise occupied at the time. At least I was there when they played song 14.

After the game, it was back to Galligan's mansion for a night of flip-cup, beirut, and other various drinking games. But one of the best parts of a reunion weekend is the reminiscing of the great memories. We remembered Gootz pouring ice on Galligan per request of the mayor of Mazatlan, the effects of 100 Beer Weekend (including the development of alter egos named Scott), and of course, Senior Week. After perching in a makeshift throne for nearly two hours, Ethan and I formed an OT (Ogre Team) to take on Shane & Co., who talked a lot of trash. But as soon as Ethan left me with one cup to hit, I knew it was Game Over. By the end of the night, everyone was exhausted from such a long weekend.

The trip to Boston was a fun and much needed one. It was great to see the majority of the crew, tailgate, see a game, and spend some time in Chestnut Hill. But by Sunday night, I was glad to be back in the city so nice, they named it twice. Thank God I got back alive.

The Boston Accent

Simply put, I love the Boston accent... on guys. It's a masculine thing, I guess. Makes guys sound cooler. More "BA." It's exciting. On girls, the accent drops from "exciting" to "below average" in status. It just doesn't appeal to me. Going to school in Boston, I was around it quite a bit. Not as much as you might think, because so many BC kids came from other areas of the country. But it was there. Some of my friends, some of their friends, professors, employees of the university... it was around me. And when I would venture from Chestnut Hill into Boston for a night out at Faniel Hall or for a Sox game at Fenway, the accent really took off.

I remember the first real education about the Boston accent. Freshman year, talking to Jomo and K-Mac. They gave me the "pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd" tutorial. But I also learned a few other things. A water fountain is a "bubblah." A liquor store is a package store, or a "packie." And chocolate sprinkles are "jimmies." Those are just the basics. See, one of the great things about the Boston accent is when you incorporate things from the region to it. "We were going to Hahvahd to a pahty, and had to stop at the packie. But Murph couldn't find a place to pahk."

Something I've noticed with Bostonians and their accent is when it comes out. The most obvious time for a college student to notice is that it comes out when they are drinking. One of my coworkers this summer, Dave, was a prime example. He had a thick accent to start, but once he got some beehs in him he really stahted with the accent. Sorry.

The other time that the accent comes out of a Bostonian in force is when they are talking, or rather arguing, about something they are passionate about. The Sox especially. It was very fitting for the Sox to have "Nomah" for so many years. He just so happened to be one of the fan favorites. Sox fans were devestated when they traded Nomah. One of my friends, Matt, is from Boston but, somehow, is a Seattle Mariner fan. I remember Jomo saying he shouldn't be allowed to pronounce Nomar "Nomah." But anything a Bostonian is passionate about, when argued, the accent comes to the surface even more. Like one night over the summer, when my coworker Dave had been drinking, and a Fort Minor song came on the radio. Dave doesn't like Fort Minor, or Linkin Park for that matter. (For those of you who don't know, Fort Minor is the side project of Linkin Park rapper Mike Shinoda) Needless to say, it was very amusing to hear Dave verbally assault "Fort Minah" and "Linkin Pahk" for fifteen straight minutes.

As I said earlier, I love the Boston accent. Over the summer, when I would drink with the gang, the Boston accent could be found coming out of my lips. That happens to me when I'm surrounded by it. After four years in Boston, I can pull it off well enough. And as stated, I like it. I enjoy it. It's exciting. So, sometimes I like to get in on the fun as well. Saturday night, a huge BC crew went out to Brother Jimmy's on the Upper West Side. At one point, I was talking to a group of guys and girls from Jersey that I had never met. One of them said, "So, where in Boston are you from." It was at that point that I realized I had been speaking in a Boston accent the entire conversation. And I realized the reason I was talking like that, in addition to the booze in my system, was because I had seen The Departed earlier that day.

The Departed (or "Depahted" as it should be called) is a fantastic movie based in Boston, starring two actors (Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg) who grew up in Boston and absolutely nail the Boston accent. I saw it on Saturday with a few of the BC kids who live in NYC or were visiting for my friend Chris's birthday. We all loved it, all agreed it's one of the best movies we've ever seen, and all agreed that, for the most part, the Boston accent was fantastic on every character in the movie, minus one: the girl. Maybe if Vera Farmiga had nailed it as well as the men did, I would appreciate it more on women. Maybe.