How's everybody doing?....

So. Yeah, I knew Norm. I mean, he was a good guy, always nice, very respectful. He was really cool with me at the bank. But  I wasn't a Laker fan. I was kind of like, I just watched the sport kind of thing. But, you know, as I said, it was just me and my mom. There was no dad in, in my life at all. So, you know, it is what it is.

But they had this really cool thing called the Big Brother Association. I think now they call it the Big Brother Big Sister, which is just astounding in its growth of itself. But still back then it was called the Big Brother Association. But anyways, my mom, we kind of have a weird relationship, you know, it is what it is. But one thing she did well that I'm very thankful for and appreciative was that she actually signed me up from the program and I met this guy. His name was Steve. He was awesome. He just happened to be from Boston, MA. I was too young to know all the details. I'm sure he told me, but anyways, I met this guy, and he was just totally cool. I mean, what a gift from God. He was just an awesome guy. He would take me around, and we would do things. I never had a father figure like that. I didn't even know what it was, but it was awesome.

Then one day he invites me to a basketball game. OK, let's go, you know were we going to the park, shoot ball or something. And that's not where we ended up. We actually ended up at the Forum, and we watched one of the 82 games. They called it a championship game against Seventy-sixers, and I was blown away that I was there. But before we went there, it was kind of like a joke we were playing with each other. He's not a Laker fan, and he wasn't even rooting for the Lakers. He was rooting for the 76ers being from Boston and wanting the Lakers to lose.

That would just be astounding. And to be able to say that I was at a Laker game in LA and you know, even though I knew Norm, I was rooting for the 76ers, but the Lakers won. Kudos to them. I remember watching Norm slam the ball on the ground, and I remember him sometime within that timeframe, giving me crap at the bank over the Celtic thing.

He was a really good guy. You know, I can't remember a whole lot about him, but I do remember those things. And the irony that he was #10 which to me is also kind of funny. But yeah, Norm Nixon was an awesome person with a great soul.

But anyways, so I'm pretty excited about watching this, about everything going down. I mean, I remember the first time the Lakers beat the Celtics. Magic’s hook shot propelled them to win that series. That was just insane, I mean it really sucked. My friends they blew me up all over LA. But again, that was the first time the Lakers ever had beaten the Celtics, even when they had Wilt and Jerry West. God rest Jerry’s soul, and the same to the great Bill Walton and anyone that played in the NBA. Really. Thank you for all your entertainment. You know, I really have enjoyed it. But go Celtics, I got to say.

But yeah, I'm not trying to be rude to the Lakers but since we're here…. In 2010, you know, you don't win that series if Perkins doesn't get hurt in Game six. Personally, I don't see how you get in the paint with Garnett and Perkins, tandem in game 7. Series was physical, it was the Cletics to take. But, I'm just a nobody watching TV, but I'm really looking forward to tomorrow night. The Warrior series, I actually missed that one because I had a tree fall on my house and we didn't have electricity for a couple weeks, so we kind of camped out in the front yard. So I lost track of that series, but I'm definitely jacked. 

I'm definitely looking forward to tomorrow. And just all the memories of what a franchise has brought in for me. You know, I just enjoyed it. I'm very thankful that I met Steve. I'm very thankful of the Big Brother Association. He wasn't my father, but he was like a father. And I'm still a Celtic fan, brother. I'm a Celtic fan because I respected you. I loved you. I cared for you. And I thank you.

But it's crazy. Tonight you got the Yankee - Boston Red Sox game on ESPN, which I'm definitely going to watch. But I'm actually not a Red Sox fan. I'm a Yankee fan. And I'm a Yankee fan because, you know, my grandfather, Mr. Edmund James Tagliaferri. He came over on the boat. In 1942, he came over from Italy after the war. I guess my family was hidden in the Vatican. Yeah, because we got a little of all that. We got all of it. We're just a mutt. We got a little bit of everything in us.

And anyways, so he came over on a boat in 1942, and he did what he was supposed to do. He did it the right way. I know when he got here, he was what was called a WOP and went through a lot of crap from what I hear. But he dug down. He did what was right. He did what he needed to do. And I would like to thank America for the fact that I stand very proudly with my hand on my heart and behind my back, for all the ancestors and soldiers that have passed. And I love this country, and I love our world, and I love everything to be honest with you. I think we all are very disconnected. And if we could figure out how to connect and get to the universe, God only knows what we could all be.