Accomplishments. 09/19/25
/Okay, we realize that the Gary, Keith and Ron comic may have sailed over the heads for our fans that don’t watch baseball, but here’s the thing. When watching a Mets game a couple weeks ago, the announcers (Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez) started talking about their love of comics. The game was one-sided and they had to fill the airtime. John and I thought, “Hmmm (actually I thought hmmm, with three m’s but John thought “hmm”with two m’s, but I digress), we wondered if we could get them to notice us with a comic made especially for them. Then they’d mention us on the air and we’d get a million new followers. This, at least, is the attempt to use social media from one guy in his late 60’s and another in his early 70’s. The tough part is we have no clue about how to actually get the comic to Gary, Keith and Ron. Any suggestions from our more media-savvy fans? We’d love to hear from you. But this comic reminded yours truly about a real-life experience from 50 years ago. I had just gotten out of college and wanted to be a sports announcer or sportswriter. I interviewed with a local radio station and they gave me a test assignment to cover a college game between two historically black colleges, Marshall vs. Grambling. I was so excited. The game was on a Sunday afternoon. And my radio report was then next morning. The problem was that I had tickets to a Rolling Stones concert Sunday night and wasn’t about to give them up. So I went to the game, wrote my script and went to the concert. The I showed up bright and early the next morning prepared for my big moment. I told my friends and family in advance and they all tuned in to hear. Everything I had written, the host of the show said before handing the mic to me. She said something like, “Marshall University beat Grambling 28-23 yesterday behind a 4 touchdown performance from quarterback Rip Johnson (made that name up). I wasn’t able to be there, but sports reporter Andy Landorf was. Andy? So I said something along the lines of, “Thank you Liz. As you said, Marshall beat Grambling 28-23. And like you said, Rip Johnson was amazing. he threw 4 touchdown passes, as you mentioned. Back to you Liz.” Shockingly, I didn’t get the job.
Our next comic dealt with bucket lists. Well, if you are in our “target audience” (see how media-savvy we are?) you are likely thinking it’s about time to start crossing things off said list. John visited his ancestral country in Scotland, I am going next year to the Galápagos Islands. Bucket list stuff. Of course there are things I have on the list that will likely never come to pass, like running the NY Marathon in my 70’s. Does a leisurely four-mile hike in the woods count as sort of the same thing? Maybe that’s the way to do the list. Do stuff that comes close to what’s on the list and cross them off anyway. One of my brother-in-laws had a bucket list wish of visiting Bhutan. So my wife’s family arranged a trip. The thing is, Bhutan is a vegetarian country which automatically excluded it from my bucket list. Nonetheless, I sucked it up and prepared to go. I was sneezing all the way to the airport and before we checked in, my wife gave me one of those portable Covid tests, just to make sure. Wouldn't you know it, I had Covid. I had to turn around and go back home so as not to infect everyone on the airplane. I put on my saddest, most apologetic face and went down the escalator to the Uber stand to drive back home. Once I was out of sight, I had one of the biggest ear-to-ear grins you’ll ever see. I masked myself, rode home, and drowned my sorrows by watching my beloved Giants take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday Night Football. Somehow, I survvied.
This week’s bucket list included finishing this week’s blog, so while I cross that off my list, we hope you get to cross something off of yours, like reading this book-length blog. Have a great weekend,
Andy and John