Memoir of a Real Life

Nobody Knew: When “The Miracle” Touched Greater Western New York

By Chris Carosa on February 22, 2020

Everyone knows what happened. Forty years ago this past weekend, when Al Michaels asked the world “Do you believe in Miracles?” a new generation discovered the power of belief. It may surprise you, then, what many people didn’t know…

In the months leading up to the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, Team USA hockey coach Herb Brooks scheduled a rigorous sixty-one game exhibition program for his ragtag group. One of those games was played right here in Greater Western New York. The event was held at Buffalo’s Nichols Arena against the Yale hockey team.

Just a couple months earlier, Yale hockey coach Tim Taylor used that game to lure me away from my intention to join the crew team. “Chris, we’ll fly you to Buffalo so you can visit your family,” he said. I took the bait and agreed to serve as manager of the team, (hockey being my second favorite sport and all).

Little did I know that decision fated me to meet history head on.

After all, it was just hockey – at the time an unassuming game played by generally Continue Reading “Nobody Knew: When “The Miracle” Touched Greater Western New York”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged 1980 US Olympic, Buffalo, Herb Brooks, Miracle on Ice, Nichols School, Yale Hockey

Childhood’s End: A Review of Ford vs. Ferrari

By Chris Carosa on February 18, 2020

Does this make sense to you?

There was a time when you met your best friend forever in Kindergarten. You went to school together. You graduated together. You were part of each other’s wedding parties. You raised your families together. You went on vacations together. Ultimately, you retired to the same communities together.

At least that’s what we were raised to believe.

My best friend was Angelo. From that day we met as five-year-olds to board that first school bus, we were best friends. Although the only class we ever shared was Kindergarten, from that point on we did everything together. Each day we would walk up Abbott Parkway to the school bus stop together. Every summer day we’d play together.

We talked of our past, present, and future.

We talked about our families, especially my uncle who wanted to design sports cars and his cousin, who frequently laid rubber in the middle of our street with his red hot 1968 Mustang.

We talked about school friends and who liked Ford and who liked Chevy.

We talked about our future wives, how we’d be each other’s best man. Oddly, Angelo Continue Reading “Childhood’s End: A Review of Ford vs. Ferrari”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, Movie Reviews, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Abbott Parkway, Angelo, Camaro, Carroll Shelby, Chevy, Fio, Ford, Ken Miles, Magnum, muscle car, Mustang, P.I., T-Top, The Blue Max, The Godfather II, The Right Stuff, Uncle Pauley, Wild World of Sports, Z-28

Every “Real Man” Knows How To Tie A Bow Tie

By Chris Carosa on February 11, 2020

If you’re a guy of a certain age, (or maybe any age, I don’t know), you can’t say you’ve never fantasized the following: You’re sitting at a plush Baccarat table, debonairly dressed in a crisp tux, cradling a dry martini (shaken, not stirred) in one hand, fondling a couple of heavy chips in the other, while coyly catching the eye of a certain femme fatale.

If there’s one prop that defines this scene, the one thing your mind’s eye focuses on, it’s the bow tie.

You can’t wear a shiny tux without one. The bow tie tells the story – the whole story.

Here’s why.Continue Reading “Every “Real Man” Knows How To Tie A Bow Tie”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Amy Jolly, black tie, Buffalo, Dean Martin, Friars Club, George H. W. Bush, James Bond, Marlene Dietrich, Morocco, quiche, The Great Gatsby, tux

Ode to Larry Pierce: Forever Among the Colonnade of Community Pillars

By Chris Carosa on January 28, 2020

They are few and far between. Any vibrant community is blessed by no more than a handful. They’re unassuming when you see them. But the moment they speak, you know them.

They are the bedrock of any sustainable community – the foundation upon which everyday folks like us can confidently build our everyday lives. They allow us to assume a comfortable regularity of our surroundings. This makes our lives more pleasant. This makes our lives easier. This, indeed, makes our lives.

Yet, they are much more. Beyond the rock of a common foundation, they represent the solid stone pillars that uplift our community. In doing so, they not only make our lives Continue Reading “Ode to Larry Pierce: Forever Among the Colonnade of Community Pillars”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Boy Scouts, empathy, Larry Pierce, leadership, listening, Mendon, Mendon Firemen, Mendon Town Board, self-confidence

Mike Alcorn: A Helluva Guy

By Chris Carosa on December 31, 2019

There’s something about a fraternal bond that is indescribable. It’s like a secret sauce that forever bands brothers together. And I’m not talking “brothers” in the genetic sense. It’s more a sense of kindred, a fundamental commonality that goes back, way back. It goes so far back our conscious mind can’t explain, can’t predict it.

But we know without a doubt when it’s there.

Like many, I knew Mike Alcorn. For certain not as well as others, but I knew him as a fellow-traveler, like most parents with kids the same age know each other.

Perhaps a little more given our shared entrepreneurial experience.

I can’t remember when I first met Mike, but I’m almost certain it was well before we knew Continue Reading “Mike Alcorn: A Helluva Guy”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged 50 Hidden Gems, beer, CBS, Custom Brewcrafters, Dan Poliziani, erie county fair, HFL Youth Football, Honeoye Falls Chamber of Commerce, Josh Alcorn, Luanne Alcorn, Mike Alcorn, West is best

Should Yale (and Other Elite Colleges) Require Students Take a Kobayashi Maru Test?

By Chris Carosa on December 3, 2019

When it comes to “The Game,” precedent has no say. The annual Yale-Harvard ritual evokes a rivalry that transcends the ages, as well as the win-loss record of the season’s previous games. So it was in 1979 when the heavily favored undefeated Yale Bulldogs fell to the Harvard Crimson in the season’s ultimate game by the score of 22-7.

Even the final score means nothing. In 1968, when Harvard scored 16 points in the final 42 seconds to earn a tie, the Harvard Crimson headline read: “Harvard Beats Yale 29-29.”

This year, the 136^th edition of The Game was much anticipated. ESPN had it moved up an hour to a noon start since the Yale Bowl has no lights. Yale, with a record of 8-1, scoring an average of 37.4 points-per-game and fighting for the Ivy League title, was the odds-on favorite to defeat Harvard, losers of four straight. Was anyone surprised, then, that the first half ended with Harvard beating the Bulldogs by a solid 15-3 margin?

The halftime show changed everything.Continue Reading “Should Yale (and Other Elite Colleges) Require Students Take a Kobayashi Maru Test?”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Alumni Assembly Convocation, Buffalo Bills, Campusland, Doonesbury, ESPN, football, Harvard, Kabayashi Maru, M*A*S*H, Marv Levy, Peter Salovey, resilient, Scott Johnston, Star Trek, The Game, YAA, Yale, Yale Bowl

A Memory of Frank Ricci

By Chris Carosa on November 5, 2019

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

You probably never heard of Frank Ricci.

You probably never met Frank Ricci.

But I have and I did. He is among the thousand points of light that have illuminated my life. This is my salute to him. As you read this, I’m confident you may find some familiar tidbits that you didn’t expect to be there. I promise you, before you come to the end of this column, you’ll discover why.

Francesco “Frank” Ricci was born in the mountains south of Rome, Italy on February 10, 1935. He immigrated to America in 1959 after marrying his wife Teresa. Teresa DeAngelis grew up on Abbott Parkway in Blasdell, New York. I grew up on Abbott Parkway, only many years later.

I remember much about growing up on Abbott Parkway. On the other hand, I don’t Continue Reading “A Memory of Frank Ricci”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Abbott Parkway, Angelo, Blasdell, Buffalo Bills, Jeanmarie, Kenny, Markie, Robert

I’m Not a Dancer

By Chris Carosa on October 29, 2019

Dateline: October 27, 1979

Two conversation threads ran on our hour-long bus ride back. For some in the group, they gushed with overwhelming enthusiasm over having taken their first step in what they expected to be a life-long political career. For others, they gushed with overwhelming enthusiasm over having just discovered the girls’ college we were spending the evening at was hosting a Halloween party.

I participated in neither discussion. Perhaps I was contemplating Bush’s anxiety. Perhaps I was mulling over my own insignificance. More likely, though, I was tired and wondering if Continue Reading “I’m Not a Dancer”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Buffalo Bills, George H. W. Bush, Halloween, prank, roommates, speeding, Vermont, Yale Hockey

The World – The Universe – That Might Have Been… (Part II)

By Chris Carosa on October 22, 2019

When last we left, you saw evidence that I was a boy obsessed with astronomy. It drove my very being. It was the reason for everything I did. It represented the meaning of my life.

Come senior year, I ignored the reality of my GPA and nonetheless plunged into my graduate school applications. Everything looked great. My recommendations. My activities. My GRE scores. Everything except my GPA. Surely, I thought, someone would see it for what really happened. My senior advisor, Professor Pierre Demarque, encouraged me.

I really appreciated Professor Demarque’s confidence in my application process. As my senior advisor, he allowed me to take on a project that other students in other schools might not have had the opportunity to undertake. I was permitted to Continue Reading “The World – The Universe – That Might Have Been… (Part II)”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged astronomy, Bill Gutsch, Boston University, graduate school, Kenneth Janes, NPR, Pierre Demarque, Strasenburgh Planetarium

The World – The Universe – That Might Have Been… (Part I)

By Chris Carosa on October 15, 2019

There’s this thing. It’s called the “multiverse.” Today we think of it as a series of parallel universes that exist simultaneously. This definition stems from a “lunatic” speculative physical interpretation of his mathematical equations made by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger’s in a 1952 Dublin lecture.

Oddly, American psychologist and philosopher William James originally coined the term in his May 1895 lecture “Is Life Worth Living?” presented to the Young Men’s Christian Association of Harvard University. James meant it to mean a chaotic amoral alternative to the universe we live in.

Today, scientists and science fiction writers prefer Schrödinger’s meaning. The multiverse theory officially emerged with a 1957 paper by Continue Reading “The World – The Universe – That Might Have Been… (Part I)”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged acausal, Apollo, astronomy, Big Tree Elementary, Bill Gutsch, Bryce DeWitt, Channel 13, determist, Electricity and Magnetism, Erwin Schrodinger, Good Morning America, Hugh Everett, Physics, quantum physics, Strasenburgh Planetarium, telescope, third grade, Willam James, William Gutsch, Woodlawn Elementary, Yale